PREPARATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  SERVICE 
First  Series  on  Types  of  Work 
No.  2 


The  PREPARATION  of 
MISSIONARIES  APPOINTED 
to  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


BOARD  OF  MISSIONARY  PREPARATION 

25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 


THE  BOARD  OF 
MISSIONARY  PREPARATION 

The  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation  for  North  America 
was  created  in  1911  by  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference  of 
North  America  to  make  a  thorough  study  of  the  many 
problems  involved  in  adequate  preparation  for  foreign 
missionary  service  in  all  fields.  It  numbers  forty  members, 
including  administrative  and  candidate  secretaries  of  Foreign 
Boards,  professors  in  theological  seminaries  and  in  special 
schools  and  departments  for  missionary  training,  and  others 
whose  study  of  the  missionary  enterprise  or  of  educational 
methods  especially  qualifies  them  to  advise. 

The  Board  has  issued  reports  of  its  annual  meetings  and 
of  conferences  on  special  problems  of  preparation.  It  also 
issues  several  series  of  pamphlets,  carefully  revised  at  in- 
tervals,  on  the  many  phases  of  missionary  preparation. 
These  pamphlets  are  widely  used  by  Boards  for  the  infor- 
mation  of  their  foreign  missionary  candidates.  It  is  be- 
lieved  that  they  meet  adequately  for  the  first  time  the  needs 
of  such  candidates  for  suggestions  which  may  help  them  to 
make  the  wisest  use  of  their  opportunities  during  their  col- 
lege  and  professional  study.  Other  series  render  the  same 
sort  of  helpful  guidance  to  the  young  missionary  on  the 
field  during  the  first  term  of  service  and  in  anticipation  of 
the  first  furlough. 

The  Board  holds  from  time  to  time  conferences  at  which 
those  who  are  responsible  as  administrators  or  as  educators 
for  the  promotion  of  proper  policies  in  missionary  prepara= 
tion  are  brought  together  with  missionaries  of  experience 
and  with  specialists  to  unite  in  their  formulation. 

The  Board  also  employs  a  Director  who  gives  his  entire 
time  to  correlating  and  extending  its  activities.  Candidate 
secretaries  of  Foreign  Mission  Boards,  teachers  in  schools 
which  train  missionary  candidates,  and  others  interested  in 
special  problems  of  missionary  training  are  invited  to  cor¬ 
respond  with  him  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Missionary 
Preparation,  25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


THE  PREPARATION  of  MISSIONARIES 
APPOINTED  to  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


PREPARED  ORIGINALLY  BY  A  COMMITTEE 
APPOINTED  BY  THE  BOARD  OF  MISSION¬ 
ARY  PREPARATION  IN  1913;  NOW  REVISED 
AND  REPUBLISHED,  DECEMBER,  1920 


Board  of  Missionary  Preparation 
25  Madison  Avenue,  New  Y^ork 


BOARD  OF  MISSIONARY  PREPARATION 


Reverend  W.  B.  Anderson,  D.D. 
Reverend  James  L.  Barton,  D.D. 
Professor  Harlan  P.  Beach,  D.D. 

Dean  O.  E.  Brown,  D.D. 

Professor  Ernest  DeWitt  Burton,  D.D. 
Miss  Helen  B.  Calder 
Professor  Edward  W.  Capen,  Ph.D. 
Professor  W.  O.  Carver,  D.D. 
Reverend  Wm.  I.  Chamberlain,  Ph.D. 
Reverend  George  Drach,  D.D. 
Reverend  James  Endicott,  D.D. 
Professor  Daniel  J.  Fleming,  Ph.D. 
Reverend  Arthur  R.  Gray,  D.D. 

Miss  Margaret  E.  Hodge 
President  Henry  C.  King,  D.D. 
Professor  Kenneth  S.  Latourette 
Reverend  James  H.  Lewis 
Professor  Walter  L.  Lingle,  D.D. 
Reverend  R.  P.  Mackay,  D.D. 

President  Wilh 


President  W.  Douglas  Mackenzie,  D.D. 
Professor  Paul  Monroe,  Ph.D. 

John  R.  Mott,  LL.D. 

Reverend  Frank  Mason  North,  D.D. 
Principal  T.  R.  O’Meara,  D.D. 
President  C.  T.  Paul,  Ph.D. 

Reverend  Joseph  C.  Robbins,  D.D. 
Professor  Henry  B.  Robins,  Ph.D. 
Professor  T.  H.  P.  Sailer,  Ph.D. 

Miss  Una  M.  Saunders 
Professor  E.  D.  Soper,  D.D. 

Robert  E.  Speer,  D.D. 

Mrs.  Ilerme  R.  Steele 
President  J.  Ross  Stevenson,  D.D. 
Fennell  P.  Turner 
J.  G.  Vaughan,  M.D. 

Professor  Addie  Grace  Wardle,  Ph.D. 
Robert  P.  Wilder 
Reverend  Stanley  White,  D.D. 
t  W.  White,  Ph.D. 


PRESIDENT  W.  DOUGLAS  MACKENZIE,  D.D.,  Chairman 
FENNELL  P.  TURNER,  Secretary 

REVEREND  WM.  I.  CHAMBERLAIN,  Ph.D.,  Vice-Chairman 


REVEREND  FRANK  K.  SANDERS,  Ph.D.,  Director 
25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 


PREFACE 


The  following  report  was  first  prepared  in  1913  by  a  com¬ 
mittee  of  which  Dr.  T.  H.  P.  Sailer,  Educational  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  U.  S.  A.,  and  Associate  in  Education  at 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  was  the  chairman. 
This  committee  took  its  work  with  great  seriousness.  It 
formulated  a  brief  statement  expressing  its  own  judgments 
and  sent  that  with  a  set  of  specific  questions  to  over  six 
hundred  persons,  including  North  American  missionaries  en¬ 
gaged  in  various  types  of  educational  work,  Board  secretaries 
and  others  selected  because  of  their  experience.  On  the  basis 
of  the  replies  received  a  report  was  drafted  and  presented 
to  the  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation  at  its  third  annual 
meeting  in  January,  1914.  This  report,  together  with  an¬ 
other  set  of  rather  searching  questions,  was  again  submitted 
for  criticism  to  over  eight  hundred  missionaries.  Their  re¬ 
plies  represented  all  the  great  mission  areas  and  practically 
every  type  of  educational  experience.  The  report  as  now 
issued  represents  two  subsequent  revisions,  based  partly 
upon  the  suggestions  received  from  the  mission  field  during 
the  years  since  1915,  and  in  part  upon  a  very  valuable  con¬ 
ference  on  the  training  of  educational  missionaries  held  in 
New  York  City  in  December,  1916.  No  pains  have  been 
spared  to  make  the  report  a  reliable  guide  for  the  mission¬ 
ary  candidate  who  looks  forward  to  educational  service. 
While  it  seems  to  set  a  very  high  standard  of  preparation, 
no  well-informed  administrator  will  question  that  the  neces¬ 
sity  for  the  enforcement  of  such  standards  is  growing  each 
year. 

•  •• 

in 


PREFACE 


The  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation  feels  itself  amply 
justified  in  the  assertion  that  the  pamphlet  as  now  issued 
expresses  the  sober  judgment  of  the  ablest  educational  mis¬ 
sionaries  regarding  the  preparation  of  the  would-be  educa¬ 
tional  missionary  for  first-rate  service.  It  will  always, 
however,  welcome  suggestions  which  may  be  incorporated 
into  future  editions  of  the  pamphlet. 

Frank  K.  Sanders, 

Director  of  the  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation. 

November,  1920. 


IV 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  Introductory  . .  1 

II.  What  is  an  Educational  Missionary? .  4 

1.  The  educational  missionary  is  first  of  all  a  missionary. .  4 

2.  The  educational  missionary  is  a  person  who  promotes  the 

missionary  enterprise  through  the  agency  of  some  form 
of  educational  institution  .  4 

III.  The  Significance  of  Missionary  Education .  5 

1.  Foreign  missions  aim  to  develop  a  Christian  social  order. .  5 

2.  Ordinary  methods  of  church  work  will  not  accomplish 

this  task .  6 

3.  The  place  of  the  school  in  the  experience  of  the  West. .  7 

4.  Its  strategic  place  in  the  missionary  program .  9 

5.  Its  definite  and  enlarging  field .  11 

6.  Its  indispensable  contributions  to  missionary  success...  13 

(a)  An  evangelistic  contribution  .  13 

(b)  A  contribution  to  the  intelligence  and  welfare  of 

the  church  membership  .  13 

(c)  A  contribution  to  the  leadership  of  the  church.  .  14 

(d)  A  contribution  to  the  creation  of  other  Christian 

institutions .  15 

(e)  A  contribution  to  non-Christian  society .  16 

(f)  A  contribution  to  the  educational  systems  of  the 

non-Christian  world  .  17 

(g)  A  contribution  to  an  educational  system  for  the 

national  churches  .  18 

IV.  Difficulties  in  Missionary  Educational  Work .  19 

1.  The  necessity  of  teaching  in  a  foreign  language .  19 

2.  Ignorance  of  the  life  from  which  the  students  come .  20 

3.  Equal  ignorance  of  the  life  to  which  the  students  go .  20 

4.  An  inadequate  staff  equipment  .  20 

5.  An  inadequate  supply  of  textbooks .  20 

6.  The  lack  of  trained  native  teachers .  20 


v 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

7.  The  too  frequent  presence  of  traditions  that  do  not  repre¬ 

sent  the  best  educational  ideals . . .  21 

8.  The  lack  of  expert  supervision .  21 

9.  The  responsibility  for  maintaining  distinctively  mission¬ 

ary  ideals  as  well  as  those  of  secular  education .  21 

10.  The  increasing  stress  of  government  competition .  21 

11.  The  harmonizing  of  western  and  eastern  civilization.  ...  22 

(a)  The  growth  of  a  body  of  native  teachers  to  under¬ 

take  a  large  part  of  the  classroom  work .  22 

(b)  The  growth  in  cooperation  between  missions  in 

educational  work,  resulting  in  larger  institutions 
and  systems  requiring  correlation .  23 

(c)  The  growth  in  a  demand  from  students  for  an 

education  that  has  a  more  direct  bearing  on  their 
social  and  economic  needs .  23 

(d)  An  increasing  opportunity  to  influence  social  sur¬ 

roundings  . .  . . . . .  23 

V.  The  Qualifications  of  the  Educational  Missionary.  . .  24 

1.  The  physical  qualifications  . .  25 

2.  The  social  qualifications  .  25 

3.  The  intellectual  qualifications  .  26 

(a)  Openmindedness  and  originality  . . .  26 

(b)  Ability  to  grow  without  the  helps  and  stimulants 

of  home  surroundings  .  27 

(c)  Linguistic  ability  .  27 

(d)  Clear  thought  and  expression . .  27 

4.  The  professional  qualifications .  28 

5.  The  spiritual  qualifications  .  29 

(a)  A  deep  personal  religious  experience .  29 

(b)  A  strong  missionary  spirit .  29 

(c)  A  personal  righteousness  that  commands  respect.  29 

(d)  The  ability  to  teach  the  Bible  effectively . .  30 

6.  Actual  experience .  30 

7.  Adaptability  . 30 

VI.  The  Training  of  the  Educational  Missionary .  31 

1.  Facts  which  influence  the  selection  of  courses  of  training.  31 

2.  The  relative  importance  of  various  forms  of  training. . .  32 

3.  The  best  general  preparation . 34 

vi 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

4.  Various  lines  of  training  . 35 

(a)  General  training  .  35 

(b)  Missionary  training  . . ..  38 

(1)  The  Bible  in  English  .  38 

(2)  Religious  education  .  39 

(3)  The  fundamentals  of  Christianity .  39 

(4)  The  aims  and  methods  of  foreign  missions. .  40 

(5)  Comparative  religion  .  40 

(6)  Comparative  sociology  .  41 

(c)  Educational  training  .  43 

VII.  Important  Courses  in  Education  .  48 

1.  The  most  useful  courses . .' .  49 

(a)  Introduction  to  education  .  49 

(b)  The  principles  of  teaching  in  their  practical  appli¬ 

cation  . 49 

(c)  School  administration .  49 

(d)  The  philosophy  of  education  .  50 

(e)  Educational  sociology  .  50 

(f)  Educational  psychology  .  51 

(g)  Comparative  education .  51 

(h)  Physical  and  social  education . 52 

(i)  Kindergarten  methods  .  52 

(j)  Treatment  of  defectives  .  52 

2.  The  place  and  method  of  study . 52 

3.  Educational  training  on  the  field .  53 

A  brief  list  of  books  of  unusual  value  for  the  educational 

missionary . 56 


•  • 
Vll 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/preparationofmis00boar_4 


THE  PREPARATION  OF  MISSIONARIES  AP¬ 
POINTED  TO  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


I.  Introductory 

The  aim  of  this  pamphlet  is  to  explain  to  the  young  men 
and  women  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  who  are  eligi¬ 
ble  to  become  foreign  missionaries  the  work  of  the  educa¬ 
tional  missionary  and  the  preparation  needed  for  it.  It  seeks 
to  indicate  the  unprecedented  need  for  this  work  all  over  the 
non-Christian  world  today,  the  great  opportunities  it  offers, 
the  personal  qualifications  it  demands,  and  the  sort  of  train¬ 
ing  most  apt  to  be  useful. 

A  word  of  explanation  with  regard  to  the  special  training 
of  the  educational  missionary  may  be  necessary.  Although 
the  majority  of  foreign  missionary  Boards  still  feel  that  their 
principal  need  is  for  evangelistic  missionaries  who  must  be 
of  an  all-around  type,  yet  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the 
adequate  meeting  of  the  existing  conditions  on  the  foreign 
field  demands  educational  work  of  a  very  high  grade  of 
efficiency.  Those  fitted  for  this  must  be  missionaries  with 
thorough  educational  training.  Such  training  cannot  be 
obtained  in  the  brief  period  that  usually  elapses  between 
missionary  appointments  and  sailing  for  the  field.  It  should 
begin  some  time  in  advance  and  may  properly  affect  the 
electives  of  the  later  years  of  the  college  course,  as  sug¬ 
gested  below.  Naturally,  the  more  specialized  and  narrowly 
technical  this  training  is,  the  less  assurance  there  will  be  that 
a  given  Board  can  place  the  candidate  promptly  in  a  position 
on  the  field  where  his  training  will  find  fullest  scope.  Yet 
broadly  trained  educational  missionaries  are  always  needed 
and  usually  find  in  time  a  work  which  draws  out  all  their 
energies. 

This  pamphlet  does  not  attempt  to  discuss  the  requirements 


l 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


of  the  more  specialized  forms  of  educational  training,  nor 
the  preparation  for  teaching  different  subjects,  but  treats 
rather  the  broad  educational  basis  which  missionaries  should 
establish  who  expect  to  be  connected  with  institutions  of  vari¬ 
ous  grades,  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university.  As  ex¬ 
plained  below,  this  training  will  be  more  general  than  that 
demanded  at  home,  first,  because  the  staffs  of  missionary  in¬ 
stitutions  are  usually  not  so  highly  specialized,  and,  second, 
because  many  missionaries  are  appointed  to  a  mission  rather 
than  to  a  specific  position  in  a  school.  The  general  advice 
of  the  pamphlet  may  need  to  be  supplemented  by  those  who 
have  special  knowledge  of  the  candidate  or  of  the  conditions 
to  be  encountered  on  the  field.  It  is  therefore  recommended 
that  when  a  volunteer  becomes  convinced  that  educational 
work  will  be  the  most  useful  form  of  service  for  him,  he 
should  enter  at  once  into  correspondence  with  the  candidate 
secretary  of  his  Board,  in  order  that  he  may  receive  such 
specific  counsel  as  the  case  may  warrant. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  the  masculine  pronoun  will 
be  generally  used  in  referring  to  the  candidate  or  young 
missionary.  The  advice  offered,  however,  applies  equally 
well  to  young  women  who  are  looking  forward  to  educational 
missionary  work. 

The  educational  standards  given  expression  in  this  pam¬ 
phlet  are  high,  but  properly  so.  They  represent  an  ideal  to 
which  many  very  successful  educational  missionaries  have 
not  attained  in  the  past  and  which  many  may  not  meet  in 
the  future.  Nothing  has  been  recommended,  however,  which 
is  not  supported  by  the  sanest  and  most  representative  pro¬ 
fessional  judgment  of  educators  on  the  mission  field  and  at 
home.  Educational  standards  have  altered  so  rapidly  all 
over  the  world  in  the  last  few  years  that  only  those  who  have 
received  their  training  within  a  decade  or  so  are  entitled  to 
final  judgments.  On  the  other  hand,  as  has  been  said,  the 
statements  of  the  pamphlet  are  necessarily  general  rather 


2 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


than  specific.  All  of  its  recommendations  will  be  practicable 
for  some  candidates,  while  others  will  use  them  as  a  guide  in 
making  adjustments  of  their  own. 

In  estimating  the  value  of  advice  from  educational  mis¬ 
sionaries,  it  must  always  be  kept  in  mind,  on  the  one  hand, 
that  it  has  the  unique  advantage  of  being  based  on  experi¬ 
ence  with  conditions  very  unlike  those  generally  met  in  this 
country.  Many  factors  enter  into  missionary  work  on  the 
field  which  cannot  be  fully  appreciated  without  long  contact, 
and  some  of  these  factors  are  very  important.  The  word 
of  an  experienced  and  successful  missionary  should,  there¬ 
fore,  always  be  received  with  great  respect,  and  a  general 
consensus  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the  missionary  body  must 
be  regarded  as  a  safe  rule  to  follow.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  many  individual  missionaries  should  un¬ 
derestimate  the  importance  of  thorough  educational  prepara¬ 
tion.  Some  of  these  missionaries  have  never  had  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  experience  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  such 
training.  Some  have  not  been  able  to  keep  in  touch  with 
educational  progress  since  they  sailed.  The  work  of  some 
has  been  removed  from  the  stimulus  that  comes  through 
competition  and  contact  with  progressive  influences.  The 
heavy  demands  of  routine  have  left  little  time  for  construct¬ 
ive  thinking  or  for  working  out  new  ideas.  In  consequence, 
many  missionaries  are  apt  to  lay  stress  on  personal  qualities, 
which  are  surely  indispensable,  but  to  ignore  the  greatly 
increased  effectiveness  which  these  same  qualities  would  de¬ 
velop  under  the  best  training.  Those  who  have  received  this 
training  should  surely  be  considered  better  judges  of  its  value 
than  those  who  have  not. 

The  candidate  for  educational  service  on  the  field  is  likely 
to  be  a  student  of  some  maturity.  This  pamphlet  aims  to 
discuss  the  problems  of  preparation  in  a  thoroughgoing  way 
so  as  to  challenge  the  attention  of  the  ablest  students  to  the 
difficulties  no  less  than  the  rewards  of  the  task.  It  calls  for 


3 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


arduous  preparation  and  for  specific  details  of  training,  but 
invites  the  right  type  of  volunteer  to  a  task  of  real  signifi¬ 
cance  and  growing  value. 

II.  What  is  an  Educational  Missionary? 

1.  The  Educational  Missionary  is  First  of  All  a 

Missionary. 

He  is  not  merely  a  teacher  or  professor  employed  by  a 
foreign  missionary  organization  for  work  in  a  school  or  col¬ 
lege  on  the  field;  before  all  this  he  is  one  who  has  devoted 
his  life  to  the  promotion  of  the  missionary  enterprise  because 
he  believes  that  this  is  the  greatest  work  in  the  world  and 
that  God  has  called  him  to  it.  There  are  those  who  go  out 
to  teach  in  missionary  institutions  for  short  terms  of  service, 
but  these  are  not  properly  educational  missionaries  unless 
the  missionary  spirit  is  their  controlling  motive.  If  they 
go  mainly  to  see  foreign  lands,  or  to  get  practice  in  teaching, 
or  because  nothing  else  happens  to  turn  up,  they  are  helpers 
of  the  mission  but  not  missionaries.  It  is  important  for  sev¬ 
eral  reasons  that  the  educational  missionary  should  have  the 
right  spirit  and  perspective.  There  are  some  characteristic 
difficulties  in  missionary  educational  work,  as  will  be  ex¬ 
plained  later,  which  might  dishearten  those  who  put  the 
practice  of  their  profession  in  the  first  place;  the  needs  of 
the  work  sometimes  require  a  shifting  of  workers  tempora¬ 
rily,  so  that  the  teacher  may  be  asked  to  itinerate  and  preach 
for  a  time;  most  important  of  all,  the  highest  opportunities 
of  his  position  can  be  realized  only  by  a  man  who  seeks  first 
the.  kingdom  of  God  and  regards  education  as  a  means  to 
this  end. 

2.  The  Educational  Missionary  is  a  Person  Who  pro¬ 
motes  the  Missionary  Enterprise  through  the  Agency  of 
Some  Form  of  Educational  Institution. 

He  chooses  this  agency  because  he  believes  its  contribu- 


4 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


tion  to  missions  is  indispensable,  and  because  he  feels  that 
he  has  some  special  fitness  for  the  service  it  demands.  He 
holds  himself  ready  at  all  times  to  undertake  any  other  form 
of  work  that  may  be  manifestly  more  needed  for  the  moment. 

The  China  National  Conference  of  Missionaries  and 
Chinese  Christian  Leaders,  held  in  March,  1913,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Continuation  Committee  of  the  Edinburgh 
World  Missionary  Conference,  declared  on  this  subject: 

“We  firmly  believe  that  evangelistic  and  educational  work  are  both 
included  in  our  Great  Commission,  and  that  the  success  of  evangelistic 
work  largely  depends  on  the  efficiency  of  educational  work.” 

III.  The  Significance  of  Missionary  Education 

1.  Foreign  Missions  aim  to  develop  a  Christian  Social 
Order. 

The  purpose  of  foreign  missions  is  to  establish  in  every 
non-Christian  country  Christian  agencies  that  may  ulti¬ 
mately  be  left  to  complete  for  themselves  the  evangeliza¬ 
tion  of  their  people  and  the  Christianizing  of  the  social  order. 
Foreign  Missions  seek  to  place  every  country  in  the  world 
on  what  we  call  a  home  missionary  basis.  The  argument 
for  home  missions  in  America  is  that  we  must  build  up  in 
every  quarter  of  our  land  an  organized  Christianity  strong 
enough  to  bring  the  message  of  the  gospel  within  the  reach 
of  all,  and  to  leaven  all  society  with  the  Christian  spirit. 
When  a  region  is  sufficiently  supplied  with  Christian  agen¬ 
cies  it  ceases  to  be  a  home  mission  field  and  is  left  to  work 
out  its  own  salvation.  The  work  of  foreign  missions  is  sim¬ 
ply  the  undertaking  to  provide  for  other  countries  what  we 
acknowledge  our  own  country  needs,  and  what  they  are  un¬ 
able  to  provide  for  themselves.  When  any  country,  at  pres¬ 
ent  non-Christian,  has  developed  Christian  institutions  suffi¬ 
ciently  strong  to  complete  the  Christianizing  of  the  social 
order,  it  ceases  to  be  a  foreign  mission  field. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  main  emphasis  was  laid  on  the 
evangelization  of  individuals.  While  this  will  always  be 

5 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


fundamental  and  essential,  it  has  been  for  a  long  time  recog¬ 
nized  that  in  itself  evangelization  does  not  automatically 
create  Christian  institutions.  Some  of  the  main  problems 
of  missionary  work  emerge  only  when  groups  of  individ¬ 
uals  have  been  evangelized.  These  must  be  organized  into 
churches,  supplied  with  leaders,  and  taught  to  govern,  sup¬ 
port,  and  propagate  themselves.  Many  missionaries  con¬ 
sider  what  is  involved  in  this  to  be  their  most  important  work. 

But  there  are  other  Christian  institutions  besides  the 
church  which  are  also  of  the  greatest  importance :  the  Chris¬ 
tian  family,  community,  school,  vocation,  and  state;  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  more  reason  for  expecting  these  to 
result  automatically  from  evangelization  than  for  churches 
to  do  so.  Without  regenerated  individuals  such  institutions 
would  be  impossible,  but  they  nevertheless  require  great  care 
for  their  full  development.  The  furthering  of  these  institu¬ 
tions  at  home  is  setting  us  some  of  the  most  difficult  prob¬ 
lems  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  While  we  may  admit  in 
theory  that  any  man  may  have  access  to  God  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  perverse  social  conditions,  we  lay  the  greatest  stress 
on  providing  for  the  rising  generation,  and  especially  for  our 
own  children,  surroundings  in  the  home  and  community  that 
will  stimulate  their  best  growth. 

2.  Ordinary  Methods  of  Church  Work  will  not  accom¬ 
plish  this  Task. 

It  seems  to  be  taken  for  granted  by  many  earnest  people 
that,  if  we  can  only  organize  in  every  country  an  autonomous 
national  church,  all  these  other  Christian  institutions  will 
develop  of  themselves.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  such  a 
church  would  be  an  indispensable  aid  in  building  up  a  Chris¬ 
tian  social  order.  We  look  to  the  Church  in  every  country 
as  the  power  house  of  Christianity.  But  the  Church  some¬ 
times  disappoints  our  expectations.  In  places  it  seems  to  be  so 
absorbed  in  its  own  growth  that  it  exerts  no  decisive  influence 
on  surrounding  life.  Especially  today,  when  social,  political 


6 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


and  economic  problems  are  becoming  so  complex  and  baffling, 
the  Church  is  realizing  the  need  of  devising  new  methods 
and  of  welcoming  new  agencies  —  Christian  associations, 
settlements,  clubs,  church  schools,  cooperative  societies,  sur¬ 
veys,  etc.,  to  assist  in  establishing  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth.  Some  persons  would  not  hesitate  to  say  that  at  pres¬ 
ent  the  Church  is  not  achieving  this  task  and  that  a  recon¬ 
struction  of  our  Christian  forces  is  necessary.  If  this  can 
be  said  of  the  Church  in  this  favored  land,  with  its  large 
membership,  great  wealth  and  rich  heritage,  what  must  we 
think  of  the  Oriental  Church,  struggling  in  most  cases  to 
maintain  its  bare  existence,  and  too  often  only  a  feeble  imita¬ 
tion  of  an  ecclesiastical  model  in  the  West?  Have  we  any 

•» 

right  to  expect  that  it  is  fitted  to  transform  the  tremendous 
mass  and  inertia  of  non-Christian  society  merely  because  it 
has  attained  self-support,  self-government,  and  a  measure 
of  self-propagation?  It  seems  clear  that  we  should  seek  to 
supply  it  with  every  possible  aid,  educational  and  social,  in 
carrying  out  its  work. 

3.  The  Place  of  the  School  in  the  Experience  of  the  West . 

When  the  Orient  looks  to  the  West  for  suggestion  along 
the  line  of  education,  it  discovers  that  one  of  the  most  strik¬ 
ing  features  of  recent  social  development  is  the  increasing 
burden  that  is  being  borne  by  the  school.  The  sudden 
growth  in  complexity  of  modern  civilization  has  had  the  ef¬ 
fect,  temporarily  at  least,  of  rendering  the  family  and  com¬ 
munity  surroundings  relatively  less  effective  as  educational 
agencies,  and  of  shifting  heavier  responsibilities  on  the 
school.  The  work  of  the  school  in  this  country  is  in  a  tran¬ 
sitional  stage  and  has  never  been  in  such  need  of  deep  think¬ 
ing  and  expert  supervision. 

The  school  is  taking  over  in  many  places  some  of  the  func¬ 
tions  of  the  family.  Time  was  when  it  might  be  generally 
taken  for  granted  that  children  would  come  to  school  with 
their  physical  needs  looked  after  in  their  homes.  Now  we 

7 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

have  school  baths,  medical  inspection,  lunches,  tooth-brush 
drills,  and  other  benefits  normally  provided  by  the  family, 
but  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  families  are  neglecting. 
Schools  are  teaching  processes  in  manual  and  domestic  work 
which  homes  no  longer  teach.  They  are  teaching  children 
to  be  intelligent  buyers  and  consumers,  and  to  make  their 
homes  more  attractive.  They  are  supplying  playgrounds, 
entertainments,  and  social  gatherings ;  they  are  accepting  the 
responsibility  of  creating  tastes  for  reading  and  other  forms 
of  leisure  employment.  They  are  doing  much  of  the  work 
of  the  normal  home. 

Schools  are  reaching  out  into  the  community.  They 
gather  the  parents  into  their  buildings.  They  send  out  visit¬ 
ing  nurses.  They  interpret  community  life  and  create  a  civic 
spirit.  They  have  even  become  centers  for  art  exhibitions, 
public  discussions,  and  voting. 

Schools  are  becoming  vocational  agencies.  In  many  trades 
the  old  apprenticeship  system  has  largely  disappeared.  Pro¬ 
cesses  have  changed  and  become  more  complex  and  special¬ 
ized,  so  that  they  demand  specific  training.  The  problem  is 
a  difficult  one,  but  the  school  has  made  a  good  beginning  at 
it  and  is  likely  to  do  much  more.  Commerce  and  agriculture 
are  receiving  attention  as  well  as  manufacture. 

The  Church  is  improving  its  educational  methods,  but 
hardly  keeping  up  with  its  task.  In  view  of  the  great  num¬ 
ber  it  fails  to  reach  with  any  effectiveness,  the  school  must 
consider  the  question  of  moral  and  religious  training.  Not 
a  great  deal  has  been  accomplished,  but  the  attitude  is  sig¬ 
nificant. 

Finally,  the  school  is  seeking  to  serve  the  state  by  teaching 
the  principles  of  government,  good  citizenship,  patriotism, 
and  in  some  cases,  international  brotherhood.  If  this  last 
topic  had  been  as  strongly  emphasized  in  the  schools  of  the 
world  as  the  spirit  of  narrow  nationalism  has  been,  we  might 
have  been  spared  the  greatest  disaster  of  modern  times. 

8 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


4.  Its  Strategic  Place  in  the  Missionary  Program. 

In  pioneer  days  abroad  missionaries  faced  a  society  that 
regarded  its  own  traditions  and  customs  with  supersti¬ 
tious  reverence  and  had  not  the  slightest  desire  to  change  its 
ways,  either  secular  or  religious.  Any  one  who  departed 
from  established  precedents  was  ostracized  or  persecuted. 
Under  the  circumstances  the  first  missionary  work  consisted 
in  preaching  and  the  distribution  of  literature  as  opportunity 
offered,  following  up  persons  who  showed  interest,  and 
gathering  into  schools  uncared-for  children.  The  most  that 
could  be  done  was  to  detach  a  few  individuals  from  the  mass 
and  to  build  them  up  in  the  faith.  As  the  number  of  these 
grew,  the  schools  naturally  enrolled  the  children  of  converts 
and  gave  them  at  least  the  elements  of  education.  Later  be¬ 
gan  an  attempt  to  train  Christian  leaders.  In  this  stage, 
therefore,  the  constituency  of  the  schools  was  for  the  most 
part  drawn  from  the  families  of  believers,  definitely  sepa¬ 
rated  from  surrounding  society  by  misunderstanding  and 
prejudice,  and  largely  ignorant  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
of  the  children  of  non-Christians  of  the  lower  social  strata. 
This  would  seem  to  offer  little  opportunity  for  influencing 
society  as  a  whole  or  for  the  application  of  western  learning. 

But  when  in  any  part  of  the  non-Christian  world  western 
civilization  begins  to  be  diffused,  the  case  is  different.  It 
brings  with  it  a  great  mass  of  new  ideas,  processes,  and  prod¬ 
ucts,  which  gradually  become  current.  The  methods  of  com¬ 
munication  which  it  introduces,  its  social  and  political  ideals, 
open  the  way  for  new  relationships  and  create  a  demand  for 
the  new  learning.  Society  now  becomes  willing  to  accept  a 
certain  amount  of  transformation.  Schools  of  a  modern 
type  begin  to  grow.  Their  aim  is  to  take  over  the  material 
and  intellectual  inheritance  of  the  West  as  rapidly  as  pos¬ 
sible.  Missionary  schools  are  sought  by  all  classes  of  society 
because  the  demand  for  learning  is  greater  than  the  means 


9 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


of  supply.  By  raising  their  standards  they  can  attract  stu¬ 
dents  of  the  finest  type. 

With  this  change  of  intellectual  attitude,  there  frequently 
comes  such  an  increased  hospitality  towards  western  ideals 
that  an  opportunity  for  the  first  time  arises  for  influencing 
social  institutions  as  well  as  isolated  individuals.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  school  would  therefore  miss  its  most  distinctive  con¬ 
tribution  to  the  missionary  enterprise,  if  it  permitted  its  stu¬ 
dents  to  go  out  from  it  with  a  personal  Christian  faith,  but 
with  neither  the  insight  nor  the  ideals  necessary  for  effective 
participation  in  Christianizing  the  social  order.  It  should 
study  carefully  the  problems  of  family,  community,  voca¬ 
tional,  state  and  national  life,  and  should  provide  training 
to  help  in  solving  them  in  a  Christian  spirit.  The  Church 
can  point  out  these  social  needs  and  arouse  interest  in  them, 
but  only  the  school  can  supply  systematic  training  for  deal¬ 
ing  with  them. 

This  influence  of  the  school  upon  the  other  social  institu¬ 
tions  is  the  more  necessary  for  two  reasons.  On  the  one 
hand,  these  institutions  in  the  non-Christian  world  are  ill 
adapted  to  take  their  place  in  modern  progress.  What  virtues 
they  have  presuppose  a  society  that  is  stationary.  The  patri¬ 
archal  family,  the  custom-bound  community,  the  primitive 
industrial  methods,  the  formal  and  superstitious  religion, 
the  despotic  state,  still  existing  or  only  beginning  to  be  out¬ 
grown,  have  little  or  nothing  to  contribute  to  the  rising  gen¬ 
eration  in  fitting  it  for  its  place  in  the  new  order  of  things, 
because  they  have  never  had  the  ideas  upon  which  this  order 
is  based.  They  are  likely  either  to  hinder  or  disintegrate. 
On  the  other  hand,  most  of  the  institutions  of  the  western 
world  cannot  be  immediately  taken  over.  They  are  the  prod¬ 
uct  of  long  growth,  social,  economic  and  political.  For  their 
sound  development  they  will  need  to  be  built  up  in  the  non- 
Christian  world  by  a  similar  process.  The  school,  however, 
is  not  only  more  easily  transferable,  but  it  is  at  present  exert- 


10 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


ing  in  the  West  the  strongest  influence  on  the  other  institu¬ 
tions.  It  has  become  the  main  agency  for  social  progress 
and  the  molding  of  national  life,  and  this  in  a  comparatively 
recent  period.  It  is  impossible  that  the  non-Christian  world 
should  overlook  the  importance  of  the  school  as  a  foundation 
of  national  prosperity.  The  brilliant  success  of  Japan  in 
the  East  and  the  example  of  the  progressive  nations  of  the 
W est  have  emphatically  called  attention  to  this. 

Therefore  the  missionary  enterprise,  in  its  undertaking 
not  only  to  reach  individuals  but  to  penetrate  the  social  life 
of  the  non-Christian  world,  must  make  large  use  of  the 
school.  Moreover,  this  school  must  be  of  the  newer  social¬ 
ized  type.  This  kind  of  school  is  being  developed  in  response 
to  the  social  needs  of  the  West.  It  is  still  more  urgently  de¬ 
manded  by  the  gradually  transforming  society  of  the  non- 
Christian  world.  The  contributions  made  in  the  past  by 
missionary  education,  great  as  they  are,  offer  no  adequate 
indication  of  what  missionary  schools  may  accomplish  in  the 
future,  if  they  are  equipped  to  bear  directly  on  social  prob¬ 
lems.  There  is  no  other  agency  that  can  aid  so  fundamen¬ 
tally  in  the  ultimate  reconstruction  of  the  social  order  as  the 
school  that  sets  itself  to  this  task.  There  is  no  other  agency 
on  the  mission  field  that  can  contribute  so  powerfully  to  this 
result.  We  need,  therefore,  not  only  more  schools  to  meet 
enlarging  opportunities,  not  only  a  better  grade  of  schools 
to  meet  the  competition  of  rising  standards,  but  a  school  shot 
through  with  the  social  spirit  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

5.  Its  Definite  and  Enlarging  Field. 

Christian  Education  has  already  rendered  a  large  service 
to  the  missionary  enterprise.  In  some  cases  it  has  afforded 
the  most  effective  mode  of  approach  and  the  strongest  evan¬ 
gelizing  agency.  It  has  dispelled  superstition  by  turning  on 
it  the  light  of  science.  It  has  leavened  non-Christian  society 
with  Christian  ideals;  it  has  prepared  the  way  for  the  evan- 


11 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


gelist  where  it  has  not  done  his  work  for  him;  it  has  trained 
the  strongest  native  Christian  leaders.  It  is  bound  to  be  of 
even  greater  importance. 

This  goes  far  to  meet  the  objection  which  is  sometimes 
raised  to  missionary  education,  to  the  effect  that  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church  on  the  foreign  field  should  depend  on  state  edu¬ 
cation,  just  as  does  the  church  in  America.  Outside  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  and  Lutheran  Churches,  parochial  schools 
have  practically  disappeared  in  the  United  States,  and  de¬ 
nominational  colleges  are  less  numerous  than  formerly.  Let 
the  Christian  community  on  the  foreign  field,  we  are  told, 
by  all  means  have  an  up-to-date  education,  but  let  it  not 
burden  the  Foreign  Missionary  Boards  or  the  native  church 
with  the  expense  which  this  involves.  Since  the  governments 
in  non-Christian  countries  are  building  up  educational  sys¬ 
tems,  why  not  take  advantage  of  them,  merely  supplementing 
with  theological  seminaries  and  Bible  training  schools? 

In  reply  to  this  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  bulk  of  educa¬ 
tion  for  the  people  of  the  non-Christian  world  will  ultimately 
be  supplied  by  their  respective  governments.  The  attitude 
of  the  missionary  towards  the  increase  of  educational  facili¬ 
ties  should  always  be  cordial.  Under  certain  circumstances 
it  may  be  desirable  or  necessary  to  make  use  of  these  govern¬ 
ment  schools  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent.  The  day  may 
come  when  many  forms  of  missionary  education  will  be 
forced  out  by  competition  that  it  is  unable  to  resist,  or  when 
conditions  may  have  so  far  improved  that  it  will  be  willing 
to  go.  If  the  mission  school  proposes  only  to  duplicate  the 
work  of  the  government,  the  case  for  its  maintenance  is  much 
less  strong.  But  for  the  present  we  hold  that  it  has  some 
absolutely  indispensable  contributions  to  make  to  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  the  native  church  and  other  Christian  institutions 
on  the  foreign  field,  as  outlined  below,  and  that  in  most  coun¬ 
tries  missionary  policy  indicates  that  it  is  an  agency  of  the 
utmost  importance  in  the  present  crisis.  Even  on  the  home 


12 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


field  it  is  a  great  advantage  to  have  schools  where  Christi¬ 
anity  is  able  to  express  itself  more  fully  than  in  those  con¬ 
trolled  by  the  state,  and  on  the  foreign  field  the  advantage  is 
incomparably  greater. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  India  National  Conference,  held 
in  December,  1912,  speaking  for  a  country  where  the  Brit¬ 
ish  government  has  fostered  education  for  many  years  and 
has  recently  undertaken  notable  improvements,  says : 

“It  is  the  deliberate  conviction  of  this  Conference  that  the  need  for 
missionary  schools  and  colleges  as  a  Christian  agency  has  never  been 
greater  than  now/’ 

6.  Its  Indispensable  Contributions  to  Missionary  Success. 

The  various  and  indispensable  contributions  of  missionary 
education  are  deserving  of  a  definite  consideration : 

(a)  An  Evangelistic  Contribution.  —  The  missionary 
school  offers  some  especially  favorable  opportunities  for 
leading  non-Christians  to  accept  Christ.  These  opportuni¬ 
ties  vary  widely,  but  in  many  cases  are  very  great.  In  some 
countries  not  only  are  there  numbers  of  non-Christians  in 
Christian  schools,  but  nowhere  else  is  it  so  practicable  to  re¬ 
move  prejudice,  to  present  Christianity  in  an  attractive  way, 
and  to  lead  to  a  decision  by  personal  work.  The  Christian 
school  often  attracts  types  of  students  who  would  not  ordi¬ 
narily  be  influenced  by  the  work  of  the  evangelistic  mission¬ 
ary.  It  has  the  advantage  of  continuous  contact  with  selected 
groups  at  the  most  impressionable  periods  of  their  lives. 
Many  of  the  notable  religious  awakenings  on  the  foreign 
fields  have  been  in  schools.  Outside  of  the  school,  many 
homes  of  parents  have  been  opened  to  missionaries  for 
evangelistic  work,  and  in  the  higher  institutions  the  students 
themselves  have  presented  Christ  effectively  in  surrounding 
districts. 

(b)  A  Contribution  to  the  Intelligence  and  Welfare  of 
the  Church  Member  ship. Protestantism  has  always  neces¬ 
sarily  stood  for  education  because  it  demands  that  everyone 


13 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


shall  read  his  Bible  for  himself.  It  is  general  in  non-Chris¬ 
tian  lands  to  find  the  native  Christians,  and  especially  the 
women,  far  above  the  average  in  literacy.  This  is  as  it 
should  be,  though  there  is  still  great  room  for  improvement. 
The  native  church,  which  includes  a  mere  fraction  of  the 
population,  must  exert  by  its  intelligence  an  influence  in  the 
community  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  size.  In  the  field  of 
higher  education  Christianity  cannot  afford  to  seem  indiffer¬ 
ent  to  the  discovery  and  spread  of  truth,  nor  to  have  its 
followers  compare  unfavorably  with  non-Christian  educated 
men. 

In  this  connection  there  is  large  scope  for  vocational  train¬ 
ing — industrial,  agricultural  and  domestic.  The  subject  of 
industrial  training  with  the  earning  of  an  independent  live¬ 
lihood  in  view  is  one  of  peculiar  difficulty  on  the  foreign 
field,  but  should  receive  careful  study.  Agricultural  training 
is  much  more  hopeful,  and  may  help  very  greatly  in  elevating 
the  living  conditions  of  the  Christian  community.  The  same 
is  true  of  domestic  science,  which  manifestly  demands  studi¬ 
ous  adjustment  to  indigenous  household  arrangements.  All 
these  types  of  vocational  training  should  undoubtedly  have 
large  contributions  to  make. 

(c)  A  Contribution  to  the  Leadership  of  the  Church. — 
The  standards  of  education  demanded  by  the  native  church 
are  rising.  In  many  places  the  people  are  becoming  restless 
under  native  preachers  with  too  meager  training.  It  is 
sometimes  impossible  to  hold  converts  who  are  well  edu¬ 
cated,  because  there  are  no  pastors  who  can  command  their 
intellectual  respect.  While  the  old  style  evangelist  and  the 
Bible  woman  still  have  large  usefulness,  Christian  workers 
with  broader  training  are  increasingly  needed.  There  should 
be  Christian  clergy  and  laity  of  marked  ability  to  influence 
Christian  thought  and  to  interpret  Christianity  persuasively 
to  their  nation.  The  schools  are  not  only  indispensable  for 
training  such  workers  and  leaders,  but  have  unique  oppor- 

14 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


tunities  for  securing  volunteers  for  specifically  Christian  call¬ 
ings  through  their  prolonged  contact  during  the  period  when 
life  decisions  are  made. 

Illustrations  of  success  along  these  lines  are  very  nu¬ 
merous.  All  over  the  world  the  leadership  of  the  native 
Church  owes  its  main  effectiveness  to  missionary  schools. 
Missions  that  have  neglected  educational  work  are  obliged 
to  depend  on  missions  that  have  supported  it  for  their  real 
leaders. 

(d)  A  Contribution  to  the  Creation  of  Other  Christian 
Institutions. — As  has  been  mentioned  above,  the  important 
social  institutions :  the  family,  the  community,  the  school,  the 
vocation,  and  the  state  cannot  be  expected  to  achieve  satisfac¬ 
tory  development  as  an  automatic  result  of  the  evangelization 
of  individuals  any  more  than  can  the  Christian  church.  They 
will  require  systematic  culture,  and  it  is  of  the  utmost  impor* 
tance  that  they  should  receive  this,  in  order  that  they  may  set 
standards  for  all  society  in  this  time  of  transition.  That  the 
social  institutions  should  be  Christian  does  not  imply  that 
they  should  be  western  in  form.  In  many  respects  they  will 
do  well  not  to  copy  western  models.  Those  who  create  them 
must  both  be  filled  with  the  Christian  spirit  and  possessed 
with  an  understanding  of  social  problems  and  methods. 
With  the  latter  the  school  of  the  past  has  concerned  itself 
very  little,  but  the  modern  school  is  taking  its  responsibility 
for  social  welfare  more  seriously  and  is  making  contributions 
of  real  value  even  in  the  elementary  grades.  To  do  this  work 
effectively  missionary  schools  may  need  more  or  less  recon¬ 
struction  in  curriculum  and  methods.  They  have  at  present 
few  opportunities  that  are  of  greater  importance. 

Schools  can  do  much  to  interpret  and  promote  Christian 
ideals  of  home  life,  they  can  train  for  social  service  in  the 
community,  they  are  essential  in  preparing  teachers  and  in 
laying  the  foundations  of  an  educational  system  which  the 
native  Church  may  ultimately  take  over,  they  are  beginning 


15 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

to  consider  the  question  of  vocational  training,  they  make 
for  good  citizenship  and  for  international  understanding. 
No  other  single  agency  can  hope  to  contribute  so  powerfully 
to  the  acclimatization  of  Christian  social  institutions  in  the 
non-Christian  world  as  can  the  Christian  school  with  the 
social  viewpoint  and  an  adequate  equipment. 

(e)  A  Contribution  to  Non-Christian  Society. — The 
school  may  so  leaven  with  Christian  ideals  those  who  do  not 
openly  become  Christians  during  their  course  that  they  may 
go  away  with  an  entirely  different  understanding  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  with  a  new  attitude  towards  it.  Many  may 
become  Christians  later  as  a  result  of  school  influence. 
Many  others  who  have  acquired  Christian  ideals,  an  admi¬ 
ration  for  Christian  character  and  a  personal  friendship  for 
individuals,  may  have  special  opportunities  for  influencing 
non-Christian  society  through  the  nominal  connection  with  it 
that  they  have  preserved.  In  this  connection  it  is  the  more 
important  that  non-Christian  students  should  have  a  deaf 
understanding,  not  only  of  the  significance  of  Christianity 
for  the  individual,  but  also  of  its  varied  applications  to  social 
relationships.  In  China  especially  a  very  large  proportion  of 
positions  of  prominence  in  the  Republic  are  being  filled  by 
graduates  of  the  missionary  colleges.  Even  when  these  men 
are  not  professing  Christians  they  will  exert  on  the  govern¬ 
ment  policy  towards  Christianity  a  very  different  influence 
from  that  of  the  old  Confucian  literati.  Some  missionaries 
consider  that  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  Christian 
education  has  been  to  infuse  the  non-Christian  world  with 
Christian  ideas  in  preparation  for  a  later  transformation  on 
a  vast  scale.  In  this  connection  the  training  of  Christian 
teachers  for  government  schools  would  be  a  most  strategic 
move. 

The  school  has  special  opportunities  for  infusing  Christian 
influences.  An  essential  part  of  the  living  Christian  message 
is  the  act  of  personal  service.  If  the  Good  .Samaritan  had  con- 


16 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

fined  himself  to  the  spoken  word  in  his  dealings  with  the 
wounded  man,  his  message  would  have  been  neither  living 
nor  Christian.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  gospel  has  been  ad¬ 
vanced  on  the  mission  field  from  the  first  through  acts  of 
kindness,  which  demonstrate  the  Christian  spirit  of  disinter¬ 
ested  love  and  which  not  only  commend  but  interpret  the 
doctrine.  A  main  contribution  of  the  hospital  as  a  mission¬ 
ary  agency  is  that  it  affords  such  a  great  opportunity  for  this 
service.  In  like  manner  the  institutional  life  of  the  Christian 
school,  with  its  close  and  continuous  contact,  makes  possible 
many  forms  of  social  helpfulness  which  are  not  so  easily  ren¬ 
dered  under  other  circumstances. 

The  school  may  also  leaven  society  by  direct  contact.  On 
the  foreign  field  the  missionary  school  should  be  foremost  in 
its  efforts  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  whole  community,  and  to 
cooperate  with  the  home  and  state  in  individual,  social  and 
civic  betterment.  It  should  seek  personal  contact  with  the 
homes  about  it,  and  incite  its  students  and  graduates  to  social 
as  well  as  to  evangelistic  service.  Among  many  examples, 
the  famine  relief  work  of  the  University  of  Nanking  and  the 
social  service  promoted  by  Lahore  Christian  College  may  be 
mentioned.  Every  missionary  school  and  college  should  be 
a  center  of  social  service. 

(f)  A  Contribution  to  the  Educational  Systems  of  the 
Non-Christian  World. — The  Christian  school  sets  an  exam¬ 
ple  of  the  true  place  of  Christianity  in  education,  as  the  most 
valuable  part  of  our  inheritance  from  the  past.  Education 
professes  to  hand  down  to  us  the  best  and  most  useful  ideas 
and  ideals  that  have  been  acquired  by  the  race.  We  cannot 
permit  non-Christian  nations  to  imagine  that  we  consider 
Christianity  so  relatively  unimportant  that  we  make  no  place 
for  it  in  our  education.  This  is  a  time  when  the  non-Christian 
world  is  substituting  new  ideas  for  old  on  a  large  scale.  Its 
old  religions  have  been  in  many  cases  so  bound  up  with  super¬ 
stition  that  they  are  being  discredited  and  are  losing  their 


17 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


hold.  With  them  the  old  social  restraints,  such  as  they  were, 
are  passing  away.  If  all  the  agencies  of  Christendom  could 
be  taken  on  to  fill  the  gap — the  Christian  home,  the  Christian 
church,  Christian  philanthropy  and  public  spirit — the  case 
would  not  be  so  desperate ;  but  the  only  agency  which  is  being 
generally  adopted  in  a  systematic  way  is  the  secular  school, 
which  is  likely  to  become  still  more  secular  than  it  is  in  the 
West.  Government  education  in  India  and  Japan  illustrate 
this  fact.  Not  only  is  all  Christian  teaching  excluded,  which 
would  naturally  tend  to  keep  from  joining  the  staff  men  who 
desire  to  exert  a  positive  Christian  influence,  but  a  large  pro¬ 
portion  of  the  professors  are  actively  hostile  to  Christianity. 
At  a  religious  census  of  1910  at  the  Imperial  University  of 
Tokyo,  4600  students  out  of  about  5000  returned  themselves 
as  either  agnostics  or  atheists.  Under  these  circumstances 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  there  should  be  attractive 
types  of  Christian  education  in  full  view  and  at  close  range, 
which  illustrate  the  methods  and  value  of  moral  and  religious 
training.  Christian  schools  endeavor  to  give  the  Bible  the 
place  it  has  occupied  in  the  formation  of  the  best  Anglo- 
Saxon  ideals,  and  to  afford  their  students  the  most  favorable 
opportunity  for  estimating  the  power  of  Christianity  in 
individual  lives  and  through  them  in  the  history  of  nations. 
They  have  also  led  public  opinion  in  meeting  special  needs, 
such  as  those  of  girls,  depressed  classes,  defectives,  unfor¬ 
tunates,  and  others  who  are  neglected.  They  have  a  rare 
chance  powerfully  to  influence  the  national  education  by 
means  of  Christian  teachers  whom  they  prepare  to  enter 
government  service.  This  large  field  has  not  yet  been  cul¬ 
tivated  as  it  should  be,  but  the  positions  already  occupied 
in  China  by  graduates  of  the  leading  Christian  institutions 
are  an  indication  of  the  possibilities  of  the  situation. 

(g)  A  Contribution  to  an  Educational  System  for  the 
National  Churches— Just  how  extensive  this  system  will  need 
to  be  is  a  matter  for  discussion,  which  will  be  decided  differ- 


18 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


ently  in  different  fields.  But  everywhere  the  national 
churches  will  need  schools  under  their  own  control  for  a  long 
time  to  come.  These  schools  must  be  maintained  by  educa¬ 
tional  missionaries  until  they  can  be  taken  over  by  these 
churches  and  maintained  with  real  efficiency. 

In  order  to  make  these  indispensable  contributions  to  the 
achievement  of  the  aim  of  foreign  missions,  the  Christian 
school  will  need  to  be  thoroughly  effective.  It  must  attract 
the  students  it  wishes  to  reach,  sometimes  in  the  face  of 
sharp  competition  from  other  schools,  must  meet  any  govern¬ 
ment  requirements  that  may  exist,  and  must  reflect  credit  on 
the  intellectual  ideals  of  the  Christian  Church.  Standards 
will  differ  in  different  countries  and  under  different  circum¬ 
stances,  but  in  general  the  aims  of  missionary  education  make 
far  more  strenuous  demands  than  those  of  schools  in  this 
country,  and  these  demands  will  probably  become  even  more 
pressing  in  the  future. 

IV.  Difficulties  in  Missionary  Educational  Work 

There  are  certain  general  difficulties,  not  all  encountered 
in  every  field,  which  make  the  work  of  the  educational  mis¬ 
sionary  harder  than  that  of  the  teacher  at  home. 

1.  The  Necessity  of  Teaching  in  a  Foreign  Language. 

To  do  this  effectively  one  needs  to  know  not  only  the 
equivalents  of  his  own  ideas  in  the  native  vernacular,  but  the 
thought  life  of  the  students  themselves.  Hence,  even  in 
cases  where  instruction  may  be  given  in  English,  a  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  students'  mother  tongue  is  necessary  for  the  best 
work.  When  mastered,  it  is  much  more  effective  than  Eng¬ 
lish  for  religious  instruction  and  personal  work.  Both  from 
the  missionary  and  from  the  educational  standpoint  the  im¬ 
portance  of  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  vernacular  is 
great. 


19 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


2.  Ignorance  of  the  Life  from  Which  the  Students  Come . 

In  many  cases  there  is  an  almost  total  absence  of  the  home 
influences  that  constitute  the  greater  part  of  American  edu¬ 
cation.  Ideas,  abilities,  and  attitudes  that  are  commonplace 
to  the  average  American  boy  or  girl  may  be  altogether  lack¬ 
ing.  Points  of  contact  are  thus  more  difficult  to  find. 

3.  Equal  Ignorance  of  the  Life  to  Which  the  Students  Go. 

An  ignorance  of  the  needs  of  the  family,  community  or 
nation  which  education  must  prepare  the  students  to  meet  is 
a  great  handicap.  These  needs  may  be  physical,  intellectual, 
economic,  social,  or  religious.  Until  they  are  known  we  can¬ 
not  determine  just  what  sort  of  education  is  most  necessary. 
To  estimate  them  properly  may  require  long  study. 

% 

4.  An  Inadequate  Staff  Equipment. 

This  is  a  condition  which  unfortunately  exists  in  the 
majority  of  missionary  schools  as  measured  by  American 
standards.  It  frequently  means  an  over-pressure  of  routine 
work,  and  lack  of  time  for  the  things  that  are  most  important 
from  both  the  educational  and  the  missionary  standpoints. 

5.  An  Inadequate  Supply  of  Textbooks. 

The  number  of  reliable  textbooks  available  is  increasing 
and  in  a  few  places  is  fairly  sufficient,  but  in  most  countries 
the  textbook  problem  is  a  serious  one.  Missionaries  have 
done  much  to  meet  the  need  and  will  have  much  yet  to  do. 
Especially  in  elementary  education  mere  translations  of 
books  prepared  for  western  schools  will  not  serve  the  pur¬ 
pose. 

6.  The  Lack  of  Trained  Native  Teachers. 

The  lack  of  well-trained  instructors  constitutes  a  difficulty, 
which  is  strongly  emphasized  both  by  conference  reports  and 

20 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


by  correspondents.  The  salaries  usually  available  do  not 
attract  the  best  material,  and  the  missionaries  on  the  ground 
have  frequently  been  unable  to  train  to  real  efficiency. 

7.  The  too  frequent  Presence  of  Traditions  that  do  not 
represent  the  Best  Educational  Ideals. 

Many  missionary  schools  are  in  danger,  on  account  of 
their  comparative  isolation  from  modern  educational  devel¬ 
opments,  of  getting  into  ruts  from  which  it  is  hard  to  release 
them.  Many  native  teachers  have  inherited  rote  methods 
of  instruction  that  are  very  inefficient. 

8.  The  Lack  of  Expert  Supervision . 

In  North  America  or  Europe  the  teacher  usually  has  su¬ 
perior  officers  with  whom  he  may  advise  and  who  relieve 
him  of  the  burden  of  the  larger  administrative  and  educa¬ 
tional  problems.  On  the  foreign  field  he  must  depend  mainly 
on  his  own  resources.  A  person  with  little  experience  may 
be  called  upon  to  perform  some  major  surgical  operation  in 
education  without  assistance. 

9.  The  Responsibility  for  maintaining  distinctively  Mis • 
sionary  Ideals  as  well  as  Those  of  Secular  Education. 

The  educational  missionary  must  not  only  maintain  a  good 
school  from  the  intellectual  and  moral  standpoint,  but  must 
also  make  it  exert  a  strong  Christian  influence  and  contribute 
to  the  growth  of  the  native  Christian  Church.  To  realize 
this  latter  aim  effectively  will  demand  a  large  amount  of  time 
and  energy. 

10.  The  increasing  Stress  of  Government  Competition. 

A  few  decades  ago  competition  was  unknown  to  most  mis¬ 
sion  schools.  But  the  situation  is  changing.  From  all  over 
the  world  comes  the  report  of  steadily  rising  standards  of 


21 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


education,  so  that  missionary  schools  must  improve  their 
efficiency  in  order  to  maintain  their  position.  In  some  coun¬ 
tries,  such  as  Japan  and  India,  this  competition  has  been  felt 
for  some  time.  In  others,  such  as  China,  it  is  in  its  early 
stages,  but  in  a  few  years  may  become  acute.  The  govern¬ 
ment  schools  are  supported  by  taxes,  while  the  mission 
schools  must  depend  upon  Board  treasuries  or  on  special 
gifts.  Governments  can  make  regulations  in  favor  of  their 
own  institutions.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  need  for  a 
high  quality  of  work  in  missionary  education  has  never  been 
so  great. 

11.  The  Harmonizing  of  Western  and  Eastern  Civilization. 

The  greatest  difficulty  of  all  arises  from  the  fact  that  mis¬ 
sionary  education  is  introducing  to  such  a  great  extent  ele¬ 
ments  that  have  been  developed  in  an  alien  civilization. 
Whenever  the  requirements  of  one  generation  are  very  dif¬ 
ferent  from  those  of  that  which  preceded  it  education  is  a 
difficult  matter.  It  is  the  more  so  when  the  difference  consists 
not  only  in  progress  made  in  the  internal  development  of  a 
civilization,  but  in  the  sudden  inrush  of  ideas  from  without, 
which  cannot  thoroughly  be  assimilated  by  society  in  a  short 
period.  In  the  former  case  education  has  merely  to  keep  pace 
with  social  advance  and  receives  valuable  cooperation  from 
other  social  institutions.  In  the  latter  case  it  must  lead  so¬ 
ciety,  but  is  in  constant  danger  of  getting  out  of  touch  with  it 
There  has  probably  never  been  such  a  delicate  task  of  educa¬ 
tional  grafting  as  is  taking  place  today  in  the  non-Christian 
world.  Many  of  the  difficulties  mentioned  above  are  either 
due  altogether  to  this  fact  or  are  increased  by  it. 

Together  with  these  difficulties  there  are  some  other  ten¬ 
dencies  in  missionary  education,  not  operating  in  the  same 
degree  in  all  countries,  which  contribute  to  create  a  demand 
for  broader  and  deeper  educational  preparation. 

(a)  The  Growth  of  a  Body  of  Native  Teachers  to  un- 

22 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


dertake  a  large  Part  of  the  Classroom  Work. — This  throws 
on  the  missionary  greater  responsibility  for  supervision  and 
constructive  thinking,  and  demands  corresponding  types  of 
training. 

(b)  The  Growth  in  Cooperation  between  Missions  in 
Educational  Work ,  resulting  in  larger  Institutions  and 
Systems  requiring  Correlation. — This  creates  a  demand  for 
missionaries  able  to  handle  large  educational  problems.  Co¬ 
operation  often  includes  British  and  American  missions.  In 
this  case  an  understanding  of  the  strong  and  weak  points  of 
both  British  and  American  education  is  desirable  so  that  an 
intelligent  adjustment  may  be  made. 

(c)  The  Growth  in  a  Demand  from  Students  for  an  Edu¬ 
cation  that  has  a  more  direct  Bearing  on  their  Social  and 
Economic  Needs. — Missionary  education  may  not  be  able  to 
respond  fully  to  this  demand,  but  it  cannot  altogether  ignore 
it.  It  will  need  workers  who  have  made  a  careful  study  of 
the  administration  of  the  types  of  education  which  are  under¬ 
taking  to  meet  these  demands  in  this  country  and  Europe. 

(d)  An  increasing  Opportunity  to  influence  Social  Sur¬ 
roundings. — Non-Christian  society  is  in  most  places  by  no 
means  so  hostile  as  formerly  to  Christian  influences,  and  is 
frequently  willing  to  permit  native  Christians  to  have  a  full 
share  in  civic  and  national  life.  The  missionary  school  must 
therefore  provide  a  type  of  training  which  will  help  its  gradu¬ 
ates  to  make  the  most  of  this  opportunity.  Missionaries  with 
only  the  traditional  academic  ideas  cannot  deal  adequately 
with  this  situation.  Those  are  needed  who  can  bring  both 
the  curriculum  and  the  whole  life  of  the  school  to  bear  on 
training  for  efficient  social  service. 

Here  then  is  a  task  that  ought  to  appeal  strongly  to 
American  students  who  wish  to  help  meet  the  urgent  needs 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  aims  of  missionary  education 
are  supremely  important;  the  present  opportunities,  as  the 
bulk  of  the  non-Christian  world  eagerly  invites  instruction, 


23 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


are  unprecedented;  the  difficulties  afford  scope  for  a  high 
order  of  constructive  ability. 

V.  The  Qualifications  of  the  Educational 

Missionary 

What  has  been  said  above  ought  to  rid  any  volunteer  of 
the  notion  that  he  or  she  is  too  good  to  become  an  educational 
missionary.  It  may  well  discourage  those  who  have  had  the 
notion  that  “any  one  is  good  enough  to  teach.”  On  the  other 
hand,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  persons  need  have  all  the 
qualities  that  are  desirable  in  order  to  be  of  use.  The  main 
value  of  the  list  given  below  will  probably  be  to  help  volun¬ 
teers  to  guide  their  own  training  so  as  to  develop  the  qualifi¬ 
cations  mentioned. 

Another  pamphlet  of  this  series  1  indicates  the  qualifica¬ 
tions  that  should  be  demanded  of  all  missionaries.  These 
are  briefly  as  follows : 

No  one  should  be  sent  out  as  a  missionary  who  has  not 
been  certified  by  a  competent  medical  examiner  to  be  of  good 
health  and  of  sound  constitution,  and  who  is  not  well 
grounded  in  the  general  rules  of  health.  In  addition  to  aca¬ 
demic  preparation  there  should  be  a  knowledge  of  Christi¬ 
anity  which  will  enable  one  to  present  it  effectively,  some 
knowledge  of  the  field,  of  the  science  of  missions,  the  history 
of  religions,  the  science  of  language,  and  the  art  of  educa¬ 
tion.  There  should  be  a  direct  and  personal  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  the  sense  of  communion  with  God,  the  habit  of 
prayer,  a  mind  filled  with  the  Scriptures.  As  essentials  of 
Christian  character  there  should  be  self-control,  humility, 
and  zeal;  as  qualities  of  temper,  a  love  of  God,  faith  and 
hope  in  Him,  docility,  gentleness,  courtesy,  sympathy,  leader¬ 
ship.  On  this  subject  see  further  the  report  of  Commission 

i  See  the  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation ; 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Fundamental  Qualifications  of  the  Foreign 
Missionary.  This  report  is  issued  in  convenient  leaflet  form  by  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement. 


24 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


V  of  the  World  Missionary  Conference  of  1910,  chapter 
VIII. 

Candidates  are  not  responsible  for  determining  whether 
they  possess  these  qualities  sufficiently  to  be  sent  to  the  field. 
The  Boards  undertake  to  decide  this  by  the  aid  of  state¬ 
ments  which  candidates  make  according  to  instructions,  sup¬ 
plemented  by  estimates  sent  in  by  those  who  know  them  best. 
Naturally  a  candidate  who  is  altogether  satisfied  with  his  or 
her  own  qualifications  would  seem  to  the  Boards  to  lack  the 
primary  essential  of  humility.  The  only  way  for  a  volunteer 
to  determine  whether  he  will  be  acceptable  for  missionary 
service  is  to  enter  into  correspondence  with  his  Board. 

1.  The  Physical  Qualifications. 

The  physical  qualifications  of  educational  missionaries  are 
in  general  the  same  as  those  of  other  missionary  candidates. 
A  pleasing  voice  is  especially  desirable  in  a  teacher,  and  ath¬ 
letic  ability  is  quite  useful,  especially  skill  in  the  organization 
of  athletics  and  in  coaching. 

2.  The  Social  Qualifications. 

The  social  qualifications  are  important  in  three  principal 
directions — relations  with  students,  with  colleagues,  and  with 
outsiders.  In  dealing  with  students  there  is  need  of  an  ab¬ 
sence  of  race  prejudice,  of  an  ability  to  sympathize  with  the 
viewpoint  of  students  and  to  take  an  interest  in  their  lives,  of 
a  capacity  for  friendship,  ability  to  do  personal  work,  ability 
to  attract  and  influence  others,  leadership,  firmness,  a  sense 
of  fairness,  willingness  to  learn,  tact,  gentleness,  and  refine¬ 
ment.  As  stated  above,  these  are  qualities  which  one  who 
expects  to  be  an  educational  missionary  should  cultivate. 

As  to  relations  with  colleagues,  the  requirement  that  is 
most  in  demand  is  willingness  and  ability  to  work  with 
others.  It  involves  humility,  a  willingness  to  yield  in  non- 
essentials,  a  sense  of  humor,  companionableness,  sympathy, 


25 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


tact,  good  manners.  Those  whose  manners  are  unsympa¬ 
thetic  and  pugnacious,  who  lack  refinement  and  tact,  who  are 
weak  in  showing  and  attracting  friendship,  will  be  severely 
handicapped  for  educational  work  on  the  foreign  field. 

Much  of  this  holds  good  as  to  relations  with  outsiders.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  non-Christian  peoples  have  gener¬ 
ally  laid  more  stress  than  Americans  have  on  formal  man¬ 
ners.  The  more  provincial  the  social  training  of  mission¬ 
aries,  the  less  likely  they  are  to  appreciate  the  fact  just 
mentioned.  The  desire  of  the  Eastern  gentleman  to  pre¬ 
serve  his  dignity  is  something  they  cannot  understand.  Their 
heartiness  and  unconventionality  may  easily  appear  to  cul¬ 
tivated  Orientals  and  Europeans  whom  they  meet  to  be 
only  boisterousness  and  uncouthness.  American  volunteers 
should  frankly  recognize  this  danger  and  take  pains  to  culti¬ 
vate  manners  which  will  be  acceptable  in  refined  society. 
The  more  limited  the  past  social  experience,  the  more  neces¬ 
sary  is  it  that  contacts  should  be  sought  and  improved  with 
persons  representing  high  types  of  courtesy.  The  missionary 
stands  to  many  as  a  representative  of  the  social  life  of  Chris¬ 
tianity;  his  opportunities  for  social  contact,  especially  in 
boarding  schools,  are  very  great.  His  social  qualifications 
will  greatly  afifect  the  value  of  his  school  work,  the  comfort 
of  his  fellow  missionaries,  and  the  relations  of  the  national 
churches  with  the  missionary  body. 

3.  The  Intellectual  Qualifications. 

The  intellectual  qualifications  will  differ  for  different  posi¬ 
tions.  For  some  time  and  in  many  places  teachers  of  not 
more  than  average  ability  may  render  useful  service,  but  the 
majority  of  missionary  tasks  call  for  ability  above  the  aver¬ 
age.  This  is  especially  along  four  lines: 

(a)  Openmindedness  and  Originality. — Conditions  on 
the  field  are  often  very  different  from  those  at  home.  Edu¬ 
cational  missionaries  must  be  alert  to  note  new  factors  in 


26 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


their  problems,  and  be  fertile  in  adapting  their  methods.  The 
routine  type  of  mind  which  applies  familiar  American 
methods  to  all  sorts  of  conditions  may  do  more  harm  than 
good. 

(b)  Ability  to  grow  without  the  Helps  and  Stimulants  of 
Home  Surroundings. — Teachers  on  the  foreign  field  may  be 
without  the  inspiration  of  associates,  supervision,  or  com¬ 
petition.  They  may  not  see  the  new  educational  books  or 
magazines,  or  be  able  to  attend  conferences  on  educational 
work.  Their  equipment  may  be  meager  and  their  time  oc¬ 
cupied  with  distracting  details.  Under  the  circumstances, 
those  who  have  never  formed  habits  of  self-cultivation  and 
continuous  intellectual  growth  are  likely  to  become  examples 
of  arrested  development.  There  is  need  of  the  ability  to  learn 
both  from  books  and  at  first  hand.  If  this  ability  is  not  ac¬ 
quired  before  sailing  it  probably  never  will  be. 

(c)  Linguistic  Ability. — The  ability  really  to  master  a 
foreign  language  and  to  pronounce  it  well  demands  a  freedom 
from  any  physical  impediment  of  speech,  and  an  ear  good 
in  distinction  of  sounds.  It  is  not  easy  to  test  this  ability 
satisfactorily  in  advance,  but  pains  should  be  taken  to  culti¬ 
vate  whatever  one  may  possess  along  this  line.  The  oral 
mastery  of  at  least  one  modern  language  is  recommended  by 
many  missionaries,  and  also  the  study  of  phonetics.1 

(d)  Clear  Thought  and  Expression. — It  is  obvious  that 
those  who  have  difficulty  in  conveying  their  meaning  to  their 
own  fellow  countrymen  and  in  their  own  native  tongue,  will 
have  a  hard  time  with  those  of  another  race  by  means  of  a 
foreign  language.  Even  when  English  is  the  medium  of  in¬ 
struction  it  must  be  used  with  special  clearness. 

In  view  of  the  difficulties  mentioned  above,  it  is  evident 
that  there  must  be  a  greater  number  of  educational  mission¬ 
aries  of  unusual  mental  ability,  if  the  perplexing  problems  of 
educational  missions  are  to  be  solved.  Training  of  the  best 

1  See  the  report  issued  by  the  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation,  entitled 
“The  Linguistic  Preparation  of  the  Missionary  Candidate.” 

27 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

kind  is  needed,  but  will  never  be  a  substitute  for  native  intel¬ 
lectual  strength.  On  the  other  hand,  those  with  most  intel¬ 
lectual  strength  will  profit  most  by  thorough  training  and  be 
least  harmed  by  it.  Both  are  needed  for  those  who  are  to  be 
leaders  on  the  field. 

4.  The  Professional  Qualifications. 

These  are  ability  in  teaching,  in  administration  and  finance, 
and  in  relating  education  to  the  best  life  of  the  community. 
Teaching  ability  is  a  special  gift  that  may  be  immensely  im¬ 
proved  by  training,  but  which  by  no  means  necessarily  fol¬ 
lows  from  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  subject-matter.  It  is 
very  important  that  those  who  become  educational  mission¬ 
aries  should  possess  and  cultivate  this  gift.  Administrative 
problems  will  be  far  more  pressing  upon  the  average  mis¬ 
sionary  educator  than  upon  the  average  teacher  at  home,  and 
in  some  cases  will  be  far  more  complicated.  Limited  finan¬ 
cial  support  will  usually  demand  ingenuity  in  making  a  little 
go  a  great  way.  The  relation  of  education  to  the  life  of  the 
community  is  a  matter  which  arouses  the  concern  of  teachers 
too  little  in  every  part  of  the  world,  but  which  is  especially 
urgent  on  the  foreign  field.  The  educational  missionary 
should  have  such  a  grasp  of  this  subject  that  he  will  be 
prepared  to  do  some  constructive  thinking  in  circumstances 
very  unlike  those  at  home.  As  to  the  professional  spirit, 
there  is  something  to  be  said  on  both  sides.  On  the  one  hand, 
it  is  widely  recognized  that  higher  professional  qualifications 
are  needed  for  work  on  the  foreign  field.  Some  correspon¬ 
dents  advise  that  no  one  should  be  sent  into  educational  work 
who  would  not  have  been  a  teacher  if  remaining  at  home. 
There  is  a  demand  for  some  workers  with  the  equivalent  of 
a  Ph.D.  in  education  and  with  broad  experience  in  addition. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  spirit  of  the  specialist  may  cause 
'  trouble  on  the  foreign  field.  There  is  danger  that  the  highly 
trained  educational  missionary  may  entertain  a  feeling  of 
superiority  to  his  colleagues  who  have  not  had  his  advan- 


28 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


tages;  that  he  may  regard  himself,  as  one  correspondent  puts 
it,  “as  a  sort  of  special  chrysanthemum,' ”  for  particular  uses ; 
and  that  consequently  he  may  be  hard  to  get  along  with  and 
may  not  fit  into  the  work  of  the  mission.  If  his  specialty  has 
been  a  narrow  one,  he  may  find  no  position  exactly  to  corre¬ 
spond,  and  he  may  be  unable  to  do  the  work  that  is  most 
needed.  His  tastes  may  become  specialized  so  that  he  can 
perform  only  certain  tasks  with  personal  satisfaction  and 
may  be  unwilling  to  take  his  share  of  general  work.  These 
are  no  theoretical  evils,  but  matters  of  actual  experience. 
There  is  a  type  of  educational  specialist  which  would  avoid 
some  of  them,  the  type  that  studies  education  as  a  whole  and 
traces  its  relationships  with  life  outside  of  the  school,  which 
is  more  interested  in  education  as  a  means  than  as  an  end. 
Even  here  there  may  be  need  for  much  spiritual  humility. 
The  solution  of  the  difficulty  of  course  is  not  to  dispense  with 
higher  training  in  education,  but  to  administer  it  to  larger 
men,  who  will  not  be  spoiled  by  degrees,  and  who  are,  first 
of  all,  missionaries. 

5.  The  Spiritual  Qualifications. 

(a)  A  Deep  Personal  Religious  Experience. — This  is  the 
basis  of  spiritual  power  and  needs  to  be  cultivated  by  daily 
spiritual  refreshment.  The  missionary  will  lack  many  of 
the  means  of  inspiration  which  are  available  to  workers  at 
home,  and  must  understand  how  to  tap  for  himself  at  first¬ 
hand  the  sources  of  supply. 

(b)  A  Strong  Missionary  Spirit. — This  will  involve 
some  form  of  religious  service  in  spite  of  the  distractions  of 
school  life,  and  seeking  in  every  way  to  make  the  school  con¬ 
tribute  directly  and  effectively  to  the  great  aims  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprise. 

(c)  A  Personal  Righteousness  that  commands  Respect. 
— The  teacher  must  have  a  character  which  demonstrates  to 
others  the  power  of  Christ  in  the  individual  life. 


29 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


(d)  The  Ability  to  teach  the  Bible  effectively . — This 
ability  is  very  important,  as  well  as  that  to  present  the  claims 
of  Christianity  in  a  constructive  and  attractive  way.  Such 
ability  forms  no  part  of  the  training  of  the  American  secular 
teacher. 

6.  Actual  Experience. 

All  the  above-mentioned  qualifications  are  of  the  most  in¬ 
tensely  practical  kind,  but  they  need  testing.  Demonstrated 
ability  along  all  lines  is  very  important.  Actual  experience 
with  physical  conditions  that  are  trying,  experience  in  meet¬ 
ing,  leading,  managing,  and  winning  people,  in  companion¬ 
ship  and  team  work,  in  the  amenities  of  social  life,  experi¬ 
ence  in  situations  that  demand  intellectual  initiative  and  an 
ability  to  grow  without  help  from  others,  practical  experi¬ 
ence  as  a  teacher  and  administrator,  in  business  management, 
and  in  making  the  school  felt  in  the  life  of  the  community, 
experience  in  standing  alone  with  God  and  in  influencing 
surroundings  that  are  spiritually  dead,— these  are  the  things, 
after  all,  that  count  for  most. 

7.  Adaptability. 

To  make  these  things  effective  on  the  field  there  is  de¬ 
manded  the  qualification  that  is  most  often  mentioned  by 
missionaries,  adaptability ,  a  broad  word  which  covers  adjust¬ 
ments  to  new  and  strange  conditions,  to  possible  deficiencies 
in  equipment  and  support,  to  the  special  needs  of  the  field,  to 
students  of  another  race,  to  colleagues,  to  the  missionary  en¬ 
terprise  as  a  whole.  It  implies  not  mere  adjustment  to  cir¬ 
cumstances,  but  making  the  best  of  them,  realizing  their  mis¬ 
sionary  possibilities  to  the  utmost.  It  demands  versatility, 
initiative,  thoroughness,  patience  and  common  sense.  It  is 
the  crown  of  a  strong  character  and  not  the  defect  of  a  weak 
one.  It  is  the  quality  that  Paul  had  in  mind  when  he  desired 
to  "be  all  things  to  all  men  that  he  might  by  all  means  save 


30 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


some.”  Inefficiency  and  efficiency  which  lacks  adaptation  are 
equally  undesirable  on  the  mission  field. 

VI.  The  Training  of  the  Educational  Missionary 

1.  Facts  Which  influence  the  Selection  of  Courses  of 
T  raining. 

Given  the  necessary  qualifications  and  personal  character, 
there  are  three  kinds  of  training  that  must  be  considered — 
the  general,  the  missionary,  and  the  educational  training. 
The  nature  and  amount  of  each  of  these  will  depend  in  the 
first  place  on  the  ability  and  opportunities  of  the  volunteer, 
and,  in  the  second,  on  the  field  to  which  he  goes  and  the  type 
of  work  which  he  takes  up.  There  may  be  volunteers  who 
have  not  the  ability  or  the  means  to  complete  a  college  course 
or  to  take  special  work  afterwards,  who  may  still  be  useful 
in  certain  schools  on  the  mission  field.  On  the  other  hand, 
not  every  position  on  the  foreign  field  demands  all  the  train¬ 
ing  that  some  volunteers  are  able  to  take.  Not  all  volunteers 
will  profit  equally  from  the  same  training.  For  some  types 
of  mind  it  will  be  much  more  worth  while  than  for  others. 
The  age  of  the  volunteer  is  also  a  factor.  Those  who  are 
approaching  thirty  cannot  spend  much  more  time  in  training, 
if  they  are  to  go  out  at  all,  and  even  for  some  who  are 
younger  it  may  be  wise  not  to  prolong  preparation.  No  volun¬ 
teer  can  afford  the  time  necessary  for  all  the  training  that 
might  be  useful.  There  is  an  advantage  in  reaching  the  field 
as  soon  after  the  age  of  twenty-five  as  possible.  There  is  also 
an  advantage  in  having  as  much  training  as  possible.  There 
is  no  rule  for  choosing  between  these  advantages.  In  gen¬ 
eral,  a  full  college  course,  a  year  in  Bible  training,  and  a  year 
each  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  education  would  be  desir¬ 
able  for  every  educational  missionary.  Further  special  study 
and  experience  would  be  thoroughly  worth  while  for  some. 
With  these  things  in  view  it  will  be  well  for  the  volunteer  to 
get  into  correspondence  with  the  candidate  secretary  of  his 


31 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


Board,  assuming,  however,  that  the  mere  fact  that  the  Board 
may  be  willing  to  appoint  and  send  him  at  once  does  not  prove 
that  he  might  not  be  more  useful  with  further  training.  The 
tendency  of  the  Board  is  to  take  candidates  with  a  minimum 
of  preparation  that  is  necessary  for  a  given  place.  In  case 
the  first  Board  approached  has  no  demand  for  a  candidate’s 
kind  of  training,  it  may  be  well  to  correspond  with  other 
Boards. 

It  must  also  be  kept  in  mind  that  it  is  not  possible  for  a 
Board  absolutely  to  guarantee  in  advance  just  the  work 
which  the  candidate  will  be  called  upon  to  do  on  the  field. 
In  the  first  place,  the  candidate  should  not  expect  to  be  re¬ 
tained  in  a  position  in  which  he  does  not  make  good.  Condi¬ 
tions  on  the  foreign  field  are  sometimes  very  unlike  those  at 
home,  and  a  person  who  would  succeed  in  a  position  of  the 
same  general  character  at  home  might  fail  there.  Then 
some  special  emergency  in  a  mission  that  is  undermanned 
may  make  it  advisable  for  him  to  be  transferred  to  another 
place,  or  even  assigned  to  some  other  line  of  work.  But 
there  is  a  generally  increasing  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
while  there  must  be  some  all-round  men  who  can  be  moved 
about  freely,  those  who  have  had  training  for  special  posi¬ 
tions  are  more  needed  than  ever  before,  and  should  be  kept  in 
them  as  long  as  possible. 

2.  The  Relative  Importance  of  Various  Forms  of  Training. 

A  questionaire  was  sent  to  the  field  which  asked  for  esti¬ 
mates  of  the  relative  importance  of  various  forms  of  train¬ 
ing.  It  inquired  as  to  which  parts  of  the  previous  training 
of  the  correspondents  had  been  found  most  valuable,  which 
parts  could  have  been  most  easily  omitted,  what  training  not 
taken  was  most  regretted,  and  also  asked  for  recommenda¬ 
tions  as  to  the  preparation  of  volunteers.  In  considering  the 
replies  to  these  questions,  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  for 
most  persons,  missionaries  included,  it  is  not  easy  to  appraise 

32 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


the  exact  value  of  training  that  we  have  had,  and  still  less  of 
training  that  we  have  not  had.  The  tendency  is  to  congratu¬ 
late  ourselves  over  every  experience  from  which  we  derive 
benefit.  That  another  experience  might  have  been  more 
profitable  is  sometimes  hard  for  us  to  believe.  Moreover, 
many  of  us  simply  ignore  types  of  opportunity  which  our 
present  training  has  not  fitted  us  to  perceive.  It  seems  prob¬ 
able  that  if  an  educational  expert  could  make  a  careful  study 
of  the  situation,  he  would  advise  for  most  educational  mis¬ 
sionaries  a  more  thorough  training  than  they  demand  for 
themselves. 

With  this  in  mind,  it  is  interesting  to  find  that  the  most 
characteristic  response  to  the  first  question  was  that  every¬ 
thing  had  been  found  of  value.  Of  those  who  mentioned 
training  of  special  value,  a  great  majority  gave  first  place  to 
actual  contact  with  life  in  teaching,  business,  or  church  work. 
This  was  true  both  of  men  and  women.  A  liberal  college 
education  came  next.  The  emphasis  on  practical,  as  opposed 
to  merely  academic  training,  however,  was  quite  striking. 

As  to  things  that  might  have  been  omitted,  the  majority 
declined  to  specify  anything.  The  feeling  was  evident  that 
the  training  received  had  erred  by  defect  rather  than  by  ex¬ 
cess.  Among  the  subjects  mentioned  for  omission,  Hebrew 
took  the  first  place,  the  classics,  second,  theological  seminary 
work  the  third,  and  higher  mathematics  the  fourth.  It  is 
fair  to  say  that  a  very  few  specifically  urged  Hebrew,  mainly 
on  the  ground  of  its  value  for  translation  work;  a  few  others 
spoke  for  Greek.  These  were  in  each  case  only  a  fraction 
of  those  who  would  have  been  willing  to  omit  these  branches. 
Among  those  recommending  the  omission  of  Hebrew  was  a 
professor  in  a  theological  seminary.  Some,  both  men  and 
women,  who  had  had  long  terms  of  practical  training,  felt 
that  less  would  have  been  sufficient. 

Of  special  training  not  taken  and  regretted,  the  subject 
most  frequently  mentioned  was  the  theory  and  practice  of 


33 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


education,  with  administration  and  teacher  training  specified 
by  a  number.  Next  came  practical  Bible  study,  followed  by 
music.  Other  subjects  mentioned  were  bookkeeping,  com¬ 
parative  religion,  business  training,  medicine,  sociology,  and 
manual  training.  A  great  proportion  of  those  engaged  in 
college  work  felt  the  need  of  further  preparation  in  the  sub¬ 
ject  they  were  teaching.  This  need  was  little  in  evidence 
among  those  in  education  of  a  lower  grade.  Of  the  women, 
about  one-half  mentioned  Bible  study,  with  training  in  edu¬ 
cation  next,  and  music  next.  Bookkeeping,  training  in  nurs¬ 
ing,  phonetics,  business  training,  and  kindergarten  training 
were  each  specified  by  a  small  group.  It  should  be  kept  in 
mind  that  these  statements  do  not  necessarily  imply  that  the 
subjects  mentioned  are  most  needed  by  educational  mission¬ 
aries,  but  only  that  they  are  those  the  lack  of  which  is  apt  to 
be  most  felt.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  less  than  half 
the  women  mentioned  training  in  education,  does  not  imply 
that  it  is  not  essential  for  every  educational  missionary,  but 
only  that  probably  less  than  half  the  women  had  not  had  it. 

3.  The  Best  General  Preparation. 

As  to  recommendations  for  preparation  in  general,  almost 
all  urged  a  college  course,  both  for  men  and  women.  Over 
one-half  mentioned  a  school  of  education,  and  others  sug¬ 
gested  that  educational  courses  be  taken  in  college.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  many  of  these  correspondents  are 
not  acquainted  with  the  facilities  offered  by  the  best  schools 
of  education  at  present,  and  that  if  they  were  they  would 
recommend  them  more  strongly.  The  testimony  of  mission¬ 
aries  on  furlough  who  have  attended  such  schools  confirms 
this  supposition.  A  considerable  fraction  mentioned  also 
Bible  schools,  postgraduate  work,  and  practice  teaching.  A 
fuller  statement  as  to  the  theological  seminary  is  given  below. 
By  the  women,  teaching,  schools  of  education,  and  systematic 
courses  in  Bible  are  most  frequently  mentioned. 


34 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


A  question  as  to  the  best  possible  use  of  three  years 
available  for  preparation  after  college  graduation  drew 
widely  differing  replies.  Educational,  theological,  postgrad¬ 
uate  work,  and  practice  teaching  were  recommended  in  the 
order  named.  The  low  place  given  to  practice  teaching  re¬ 
flects  the  opinion  widely  held  in  this  country  that  all  that  is 
necessary  for  a  high  school  or  college  teacher  is  a  knowledge 
of  subject-matter.  It  seems  clear  that  in  ordinary  cases 
under  such  circumstances  a  full  year  should  be  given  to 
theory  in  education,  a  full  year  to  selected  Bible  and  theo¬ 
logical  studies;  that  for  those  who  are  to  teach  special  sub¬ 
jects  at  least  a  year  of  postgraduate  work  is  highly  desirable; 
and  that  in  general,  a  year  of  practical  teaching  should  be 
had.  Many  may  find  it  possible  to  secure  equivalents  of  one 
or  more  of  these  forms  in  other  ways,  but  where  time  and 
means  permit,  the  educational  missionary  should  have  them 
all.  If  the  question  had  been  differently  put,  it  would  prob¬ 
ably  have  drawn  out  greater  emphasis  on  the  value  of  prac¬ 
tical  experience. 

4.  Various  Lines  of  Training. 

(a)  General  Training. — It  is  generally  taken  for  granted 
today  that  a  college  course  is  desirable  for  educational  mis¬ 
sionaries.  The  only  possible  exceptions  would  be:  (1)  those 
teaching  specialized  subjects,  such  as  physical  training,  do¬ 
mestic  science,  etc.,  where  practical  experience  is  of  relatively 
large  importance;  (2)  those  in  boarding  schools  and  elemen¬ 
tary  work,  especially  in  countries  where  competition  is  not  yet 
severe;  (3)  those  whose  self-education  furnishes  the  equiva¬ 
lent  of  a  college  course.  Some  Boards  are  undertaking  to 
make  the  A.B.  a  minimum  requirement  for  their  educational 
missionaries.  While  it  may  be  well  to  administer  this  rule 
with  discretion,  the  reasons  for  a  broad  educational  founda¬ 
tion  are  very  strong.  In  the  first  place,  as  the  number  of 
native  Christian  workers  increases  and  improves  in  quality, 


35 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


the  more  expensive  missionary  should  be  used  only  for  types 
of  work  demanding  special  ability  and  training.  Those  who 
are  sent  should  be  well  educated.  In  the  second  place,  knowl¬ 
edge  needed  is  not  so  easily  borrowed  on  the  field.  Here 
persons  can  easily  supplement  defects  in  their  education  by 
consulting  friends  or  books.  In  many  mission  stations  such 
aids  are  relatively  limited.  Third,  the  centers  of  the  foreign 
field  present  broad,  cosmopolitan  contacts.  The  missionary 
meets  graduates  of  the  best  European  and  American  uni¬ 
versities,  besides  whose  attainments  a  scanty  or  narrowly 
specialized  education  appears  to  great  disadvantage.  Fourth, 
most  missionary  institutions  are  so  understaffed  that  sudden 
vacancies  may  demand  readjustments  not  usual  at  home.  A 
missionary  may  be  called  upon  at  very  short  notice  to  teach 
subjects  altogether  out  of  his  line.  A  good  general  educa¬ 
tion  will  be  a  great  help  under  such  circumstances.  Finally, 
since  Christian  education  must  be  brought  broadly  to  bear  on 
social,  economic,  political  and  religious  life,  the  training  of 
the  missionary  should  furnish  at  least  preparatory  contacts 
along  these  different  lines. 

It  is  obvious  that  there  are  many  types  of  college  courses 
which  do  not  fulfill  these  requirements.  The  old-fashioned 
liberal  education,  now  rarely  found  in  operation,  devoting 
over  one-half  of  its  time  to  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics, 
and  yet  only  in  exceptional  cases  resulting  in  a  mastery  of 
any  of  these  branches,  is  too  narrow  from  the  cultural  stand¬ 
point.  The  modern  specialized  curriculum,  creating  exclu¬ 
sive  enthusiasms  for  Elizabethan  English,  pragmatic  philos¬ 
ophy,  or  tariff  reform,  may  be  too  narrow  in  another  way. 
It  is  not  easy,  college  regulations  being  what  they  are,  to 
select  a  course  which  is  at  once  sufficiently  broad  and  suffi¬ 
ciently  thorough.  Candidates  for  educational  work  on  the 
field  should  have  a  stronger  motive  than  most  students  for 
diligent  work,  both  inside  and  outside  the  curriculum.  Con¬ 
centration  on  subjects  to  be  taught  on  the  field  or  on  those 

36 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


most  closely  related  to  education,  such  as  psychology,  sociol¬ 
ogy,  and  ethics,  may  well  begin  not  later  than  the  third  year 
of  the  college  course,  at  which  time  courses  on  education 
may  be  elected,  if  any  of  good  quality  are  available.  These 
last  are  increasing  in  number  in  colleges  and  universities, 
but  are  not  always  very  satisfactory  in  character.  For  those 
who  expect  to  teach  in  higher  institutions,  broad  post-gradu¬ 
ate  work  in  the  subject  to  be  taught  is  very  desirable,  and 
some  missionaries  would  recommend  a  Ph.D.  for  every  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  faculty  of  a  missionary  college. 

Other  subjects  that  may  well  be  elected  are  the  English 
Bible,  comparative  religion,  the  science  of  language,  modern 
history,  sociology,  economics,  politics,  philosophy,  some  phys¬ 
ical  and  biological  science,  English  (in  which  it  appears  that 
many  missionaries  are  notably  deficient),  modern  languages, 
and  anthropology.  These  are  all  subjects  with  broad  cul¬ 
tural  values  and  will  be  rendered  only  more  broad  by  the 
consideration  of  their  relations  to  the  changing  civilization 
of  the  non-Christian  world.  Other  subjects,  not  so  generally 
on  the  elective  list,  but  of  value  to  missionaries,  are  physical 
training,  hygiene,  household  economics,  agriculture,  business 
methods,  bookkeeping,  phonetics,  music,  and  nursing.  The 
quality  of  courses  with  the  same  name  differ  greatly  in  dif¬ 
ferent  institutions.  Some  instructors  make  the  most  un¬ 
promising  subjects  well  worth  taking;  others  can  deprive  the 
most  hopeful  subjects  of  stimulus.  Students  should  not 
select  their  work  merely  from  an  inspection  of  the  college 
catalog,  but  should  consult  with  more  able  students  who  have 
taken  the  courses  in  question. 

The  best  things  to  be  obtained  from  any  course  are  interest 
and  ability  to  pursue  the  subject  further  without  assistance, 
methods,  and  habits  of  work,  ideas  that  have  application  to 
other  important  fields,  and  ability  to  apply  them.  Practical 
experience  in  Bible  teaching  or  Sunday-school  work  will  be 
valuable;  also  experience  in  personal  work  and  social  service. 

37 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

Mission  study  classes  will  naturally  be  attended  by  candi¬ 
dates. 

What  was  said  above  as  to  the  practical  side  of  training 
must  not  be  forgotten.  Opportunities  in  college  for  devel¬ 
oping  adaptability  and  efficiency  in  social,  intellectual,  and 
executive  lines  should  be  improved,  but  for  many  students  a 
year  or  two  of  responsibility  later  on  would  be  far  more 
fruitful. 

(b)  Missionary  Training.— The  most  necessary  subjects 
in  missionary  training  are  the  Bible,  religious  education,  the 
fundamentals  of  Christianity,  aims  and  methods  of  foreign 
missions,  comparative  religion,  comparative  sociology,  and 
the  science  of  language. 

(1)  The  Bible  in  English. — A  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  English  Bible  is  essential.  This  should  be  based  on  re¬ 
cent  scholarship.  One  missionary  writes,  “Blind  adherence 
to  traditions  will  lose  the  respect  of  the  Chinese.”  Another 
says,  “Those  who  do  not  keep  up  to  date  in  their  religious 
thought  are  apt  to  become  stumbling-blocks.”  These  corre¬ 
spondents  are  not  urging  radical  views,  but  only  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  modern  Christian  thought.  As  yet  another  puts  it, 
missionaries  should  at  least  know  enough  of  the  modern 
interpretation  of  the  Bible  to  be  able  to  accept  or  reject  it 
intelligently. 

The  Bible  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  is  generally  felt  to  be  less 
important  for  an  educational  missionary,  except  of  course 
those  who  are  to  teach  in  theological  seminaries  or  Bible 
schools  or  to  help  in  translating  the  scriptures.  An  ability  to 
read  the  New  Testament  in  the  original  will  always  be  a  help, 
but  the  study  of  Hebrew  is  not  in  general  urged.  Of  all  sub¬ 
jects  that  our  correspondents  would  be  willing  to  omit,  it  is 
most  frequently  mentioned.  A  smattering  is  hardly  worth 
while,  and  the  time  required  for  even  a  fair  mastery  could 
be  by  the  great  majority  of  educational  missionaries  far  more 
profitably  devoted  to  other  things.  The  contention  is  not 


38 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


that  Hebrew  is  valueless,  but  that  for  educational  work  on 
the  foreign  field  many  subjects  more  commonly  omitted 
would  be  more  useful.  A  knowledge  of  the  background  of 
Bible  history  and  of  Biblical  theology  is  much  more 
necessary. 

(2)  Religions  Education. — The  principles  of  religious 
education  constitute  a  subject  of  great  importance.  Many  re¬ 
quests  come  from  missionaries  for  suggestions  how  to  make 
their  work  more  effective  along  this  line.  Missionary  schools 
are  both  a  field  and  a  force  for  religious  instruction  of  every 
grade.  The  missionary  should  be  a  student  of  religious 
psychology,  and  should  understand  what  material  will  best 
promote  normal  development  at  each  age.  He  must  also  be 
able  to  teach  the  Bible  effectively.  Many  students  on  the  field 
will  get  from  their  missionary  teacher  the  only  Bible  in¬ 
struction  they  ever  receive.  Many  will  copy  his  methods  in 
their  own  work.  If  he  is  systematic  and  efficient  in  dealing 
with  secular  subjects,  and  haphazard  and  feeble  in  his  Bible 
classes,  the  natural  inference  will  be  that  he  considers  the 
latter  of  little  account.  The  best  opportunities  of  all  may 
come  to  him  in  personal  work  outside  of  any  class,  and  he 
must  know  how  to  make  the  most  of  these. 

An  ability  to  guide  the  religious  activities  of  students, 
such  as  is  gained  in  the  student  Association  work  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  most  effective  methods  of  Sunday-school 
administration,  will  also  be  of  the  greatest  value. 

(3)  The  Fundamentals  of  Christianity . — These  should 
comprise  as  a  minimum  the  outlines  of  Christian  doctrine 
stated  in  terms  of  modern  thought.  The  educational  mis¬ 
sionary  should  be  prepared  to  present  and  to  teach  others  to 
present  the  Christian  message  with  effectiveness.  A  full 
course  in  systematic  theology  is  not  necessary,  though  some 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  doctrine  will  be  very  useful,  as 
some  of  the  western  developments  of  theological  thought 
tend  to  repeat  themselves  on  the  foreign  field.  The  broad 


39 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


essentials  on  which  Christian  churches  unite  are  most  im¬ 
portant.  The  main  value  of  an  acquaintance  with  denomi¬ 
national  differences  is  that  they  may  not  unwittingly  be 
made  prominent.  An  acquaintance  with  union  movements 
at  home  will  help  in  promoting  Christian  union  on  the  field. 

The  study  of  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  philosophical 
thought  may  be  very  useful  in  dealing  with  those  troubled 
with  doubts,  but  in  general  the  statement  of  Christianity 
should  appeal  to  decision  and  action  rather  than  to  specu¬ 
lation. 

(4)  The  Aims  and  Methods  of  Foreign  Missions. — 
These  should  be  clearly  understood  so  that  the  educational 
work  may  make  its  maximum  contribution  to  the  whole 
cause.  This  is  supremely  important  and  yet  is  much  neg¬ 
lected.  In  few  lines  is  the  ignorance  of  missionary  candi¬ 
dates  so  surprising  as  in  this  of  the  large  missionary  aims 
and  policies.  Among  missionaries  themselves  there  is  still 
more  or  less  difference  of  opinion,  due  to  differences  of  theo¬ 
logical  viewpoint,  temperament,  or  circumstance;  among 
candidates  the  large  aims  have  often  never  been  even  con¬ 
sidered.  The  subject  should  be  studied  in  such  documents 
as  the  Report  of  the  Edinburgh  World  Missionary  Confer¬ 
ence,  especially  volumes  II  and  III ;  the  Findings  of  the  Con¬ 
tinuation  Committee  Conferences  in  Asia ;  and  The  Interna¬ 
tional  Review  of  Missions.  Education  at  home  and  abroad 
is  only  the  means  to  an  end,  and  it  cannot  hope  to  achieve  its 
ends  unless  it  understands  them  thoroughly. 

(5)  Comparative  Religion. — This  is  of  great  importance 
to  the  educational  missionary  because  he  seeks  to  substitute 
a  Christian  conception  of  life  for  a  non-Christian  conception. 
He  must  therefore  know  his  points  of  contact.  He  will 
naturally  concentrate  on  the  history  of  the  religious  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  field  to  which  he  expects  to  go.  He  cannot  deal 
fairly  and  wisely  with  his  students  without  an  acquaintance 
with  their  religious  background.  Volume  IV  of  the  Edin- 


40 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


burgh  Report  will  be  found  especially  valuable  in  this 
connection,  and  also  the  series  of  pamphlets  issued  by  the 
Board  of  Missionary  Preparation  on  the  Presentation  of 
Christianity  to  various  peoples. 

(6)  Comparative  Sociology. — This  is  useful  because  the 
social  structure  of  many  of  the  non-Christian  nations  is  very 
different  from  our  own.  There  is  danger  that  the  forces  of 
modern  civilization  will  destroy  this  far  more  rapidly  than 
they  can  supply  something  adequate  to  take  its  place.  There 
is  a  great  opportunity  for  the  Christian  school  to  act  as  a 
constructive  agency,  helping  to  retain  whatever  of  good  in 
the  old  order  can  hope  to  fuse  with  the  new,  and  holding  up 
high  ideals  to  combat  the  sordid  ambitions  of  modern  life. 

The  study  of  the  science  of  language  and  phonetics  may 
save  the  missionary  much  time  and  greatly  increase  his  effi¬ 
ciency.  1 

Where  shall  these  subjects  be  studied f  In  great  universi¬ 
ties  elective  courses  on  some  of  these  subjects  may  be  avail¬ 
able  even  for  the  undergraduate.  Something  may  also  be 
done  in  voluntary  classes  for  Bible  and  mission  study.  In 
general  it  would  seem  well  worth  while  to  take  at  least  a 
year  to  prepare  along  these  lines.  In  this,  as  in  most  other 
lines  of  preparation,  a  second  year  of  study  may  more  than 
double  the  profit  gained  from  only  one. 

Like  colleges,  theological  seminaries  differ  much  in  the 
facilities  they  provide  for  missionary  candidates,  and  the 
statements  of  some  catalogs  sound  better  than  the  facts 
strictly  warrant.  It  will  be  best  for  the  candidate  to  con¬ 
sult  with  the  candidate  secretary  of  his  Board  as  to  the 
choice  of  an  institution. 

A  full  seminary  course  is  recommended  for  educational 
missionaries  by  only  a  small  minority  of  our  correspondents. 
The  variance  of  opinion  is  partly  to  be  accounted  for  by  the 

^  1  On  this  whole  subject  note  Vol.  V  of  the  Report  of  the  World  Missionary 
Conference  of  1910,  pp.  161-179,  or  the  pamphlet,  “The  Linguistic  Preparation  of 
the  Missionary  Candidate.” 


41 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

difference  between  the  seminaries  that  are  in  mind.  Some 
seminaries  provide  many  electives  which  would  be  of  value 
to  the  educational  missionary  and  make  it  possible  to  con¬ 
centrate  on  these.  Others  require  all  students  to  follow  a 
schedule  of  studies  which  prepares  for  the  home  pastorate, 
including  Hebrew.  More  than  one  year  in  a  seminary  of 
the  former  type  might  be  well  worth  while  for  those  who  have 
plenty  of  time:  seminaries  of  the  latter  type  should  be 
avoided  by  educational  candidates  who  can  afford  to  go  else¬ 
where.  Some  seminaries,  however,  whose  regular  course  re¬ 
quires  Hebrew  permit  missionary  candidates  to  take  special 
courses  without  it.  A  year  of  postgraduate  work  in  a  great 
university  might  yield  far  more  in  cultural  values  and  general 
equipment  for  life  than  an  extra  year  in  the  average  theo¬ 
logical  seminary. 

The  amount  of  time  to  be  spent  at  a  theological  seminary 
will  depend  on  the  previous  training  of  the  candidate,  the 
supplementary  work  he  expects  to  undertake,  his  age,  and 
often  on  practical  questions,  such  as  self-support,  as  well  as 
upon  the  character  of  the  institution.  The  ideal  for  an  edu¬ 
cational  missionary  is  a  broad  culture  which  will  enable  him 
to  grow  and  be  of  weight  in  the  community  and  in  the  coun¬ 
cils  of  the  mission,  together  with  such  a  knowledge  of  re¬ 
ligious  subjects  as  may  help  him  to  make  real  contributions  to 
the  growth  of  the  native  church.  Unless  he  teaches  in  a  theo¬ 
logical  seminary  or  Bible  school  on  the  field  he  need  not  be 
a  specialist  in  theology,  but  he  will  have  far  greater  re¬ 
sponsibility  in  this  direction  than  teachers  in  this  country. 
The  more  distinctively  missionary  and  Biblical  training  he 
can  get  in  addition  to  a  thorough  educational  preparation  the 
better.  The  equivalent  of  a  year  in  Biblical  training,  cover¬ 
ing  the  subjects  mentioned  above,  should  be  the  minimum. 
Candidates  desiring  a  really  efficient  educational  equipment 
will  usually  be  unable  to  spend  more  time  than  this. 

Mr.  Fletcher  S.  Brockman  made  the  following  statement 
in  1910  about  thorough  preparation: 

42 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

“No  person  with  a  partial  or  superficial  education  will  be  able  to 
command  the  full  respect  of  the  Chinese.  Heretofore  the  Chinese  have 
had  poor  facilities  for  passing  judgment  upon  a  man’s  attainments  in 
western  learning.  Such  will  not  long  be  the  case.  Whatever  prepar¬ 
ation  for  missionaries  may  mean,  it  must  not  mean  in  the  case  of  China 
less,  but  rather  more,  than  would  be  necessary  for  work  at  home.’’1 

The  importance  of  varied  practical  experience  also  must 
not  be  forgotten.  The  reason  why  a  number  of  corre¬ 
spondents  recommend  Bible  or  missionary  training  schools 
instead  of  theological  seminaries  is  probably  on  account  of 
the  more  practical  nature  of  the  courses.  It  would  seem  wise 
for  volunteers  to  secure  the  best  academic  training  possible, 
but  in  addition  to  engage  in  practical  forms  of  Christian 
work  similar  to  those  that  will  be  met  on  the  field.  The  time 
element  enters  here,  and  some  missionaries  would  urge  can¬ 
didates  to  reach  the  field  as  early  as  possible  after  graduating 
from  college;  others  advise  first  to  demonstrate  efficiency  in 
practical  work  at  home. 

(c)  Educational  Training. — It  must  be  admitted  that 
mission  Boards  have  been  less  exacting  in  their  demands 
for  special  training  in  the  case  of  educational  than  in  that  of 
medical  missionaries.  There  are  reasons  for  this.  In  the 
first  place,  inefficiency  in  medical  work  demonstrates  itself 
quickly  and  mercilessly  while  inefficiency  in  education  does 
not.  The  hospital  patient  obviously  gets  well  or  dies.  The 
school  pupil  under  poor  teaching  stays  on,  learning  almost 
nothing,  but  no  one  can  tell  this  from  his  appearance.  Learn¬ 
ing  is  supposed  to  be  a  tedious  process,  anyway,  the  results 
of  which  are  not  apparent  except  to  those  who  conduct  exam¬ 
inations.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  generally  felt  that  educa¬ 
tional  science  is  in  a  more  experimental  stage  than  medical 
science  is.  The  word  pedagogy  arouses  suspicion  in  the  minds 
of  some.  Teachers  who  are  deficient  in  personality  often  try 
to  conceal  the  fact  by  glibness  in  technical  rules,  and  this 
has  brought  discredit  on  the  whole  subject.  The  practical 


1  Report  of  Commission  V,  World  Missionary  Conference,  pp.  270-1. 

43 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


value  of  educational  training  is  more  or  less  doubted.  In 
the  third  place,  the  aims  of  secular  education  are  felt  to  be 
somewhat  different  from  those  of  the  missionary  school,  so 
that  absorption  in  them  may  make  a  man  a  less  efficient  mis¬ 
sionary. 

Finally  and  most  important,  educational  training  received 
at  home  has  been  in  most  cases  too  superficial  or  too  special¬ 
ized.  The  medical  student,  with  four  to  six  years  of  prepara¬ 
tion  in  school  and  hospital,  has  an  opportunity  to  lay  a  foun¬ 
dation  comparatively  much  broader  and  deeper.  He  has 
covered  the  main  essentials,  has  had  a  view  of  relationships, 
and  has  prepared  the  way  either  to  do  general  work  or  to 
take  any  one  of  several  special  subjects.  The  theological  stu¬ 
dent  has  spent  three  years  on  a  course  which  furnishes  a 
broad  basis,  and  which  to-day  is  tending  to  offer  some  more 
specific  preparation  for  the  missionary.  The  average  teacher, 
as  testified  by  our  correspondence,  has  had  by  no  means  the 
equivalent  of  such  preparation.  Many  missionaries  occupy¬ 
ing  the  most  important  educational  positions  on  the  field  have 
never  had  any  special  training  for  their  work.  They  are 
graduates  of  colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  but  even 
there  received  no  specific  work  in  educational  principles. 
They  may  have  done  a  little  teaching,  in  most  cases  to  pay 
expenses  rather  than  to  acquire  experience.  Such  work 
may  be  of  great  value,  but  it  may  also  be  very  one-sided. 
Among  men  missionaries,  those  who  have  had  even  a  full 
year’s  work  in  the  principles  of  education  and  another  year 
of  practice  under  favorable  conditions,  are  in  the  very  small 
minority.  A  large  proportion  of  women  missionaries  have 
had  some  experience  in  teaching,  but  neither  this  nor  any 
normal  training  they  may  have  received  has  prepared  them 
to  deal  with  the  larger  educational  questions.  Considering 
the  circumstances,  educational  missionaries  have  done  a 
splendid  work,  though  it  has  been  fortunate  that  in  many 
cases  they  have  had  little  competition.  The  more  discerning 


44 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


among  them,  however,  recognize  how  superficial  their  gen¬ 
eral  preparation  has  been,  and  how  much  more  will  be  needed 
to  meet  the  problems  that  are  arising. 

When  educational  training  has  been  at  all  thorough  in  the 
past  it  has  usually  been  rather  narrowly  specialized.  A 
teacher  has  been  expert  in  kindergarten  or  elementary  work, 
or  in  certain  subjects  of  the  secondary  school  or  college,  but 
has  known  nothing  of  any  other  field  or  of  the  larger  prob¬ 
lems  of  education.  The  medical  missionary,  on  the  other 
hand,  prepares  along  all  lines — medicine,  surgery,  tropical 
diseases,  etc. — -with  the  expectation  of  dealing  with  every 
case  that  presents  itself.  If  training  for  teachers  were 
equally  broad,  it  would  be  more  welcome  than  it  is. 

All  this  is  not  an  argument  against  educational  training, 
but  merely  a  warning  against  that  which  is  not  both  broad 
and  thorough.  There  are  many  positive  reasons  to  the  same 
point.  All  the  special  difficulties  mentioned  on  pages  19-24 
of  this  pamphlet  make  thoroughness  of  training  more  neces¬ 
sary.  The  handicap  of  the  use  of  a  foreign  language  by 
either  teacher  or  students,  the  demand  for  adaptation  to  new 
mental  conditions  and  to  social  needs  unlike  those  of 
America,  the  frequent  lack  as  to  school  staff,  equipment,  ad¬ 
equate  textbooks  or  well-trained  native  teachers,  the  ruts 
which  many  missionary  schools  have  gotten  into,  the  lack 
of  expert  supervision,  the  responsibility  for  missionary  as 
well  as  intellectual  results,  the  increasing  stress  of  govern¬ 
ment  competition,  the  need  of  amalgamating  elements  of 
civilizations  foreign  to  each  other — all  these  things  plainly 
demand  preparation  that  shall  be  especially  efficient.  Other 
reasons  could  easily  be  added.  In  this  country  the  teacher 
has  the  assistance  of  the  home,  the  church,  public  spirit,  and 
of  other  educational  agencies,  such  as  literature,  public  ad¬ 
dresses,  exhibitions,  etc.,  in  large  measure.  On  the  foreign 
field  the  school  must  generally  contribute  a  far  larger  percent¬ 
age  of  the  total  uplifting  forces  in  the  lives  of  young  people. 


45 


t 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

Here  the  inefficient  teacher  tends  to  be  eliminated;  there  he 
tends  to  be  copied  by  those  who  know  no  better  models.  Here 
the  large  problems  and  broad  surveys  of  education  are  as¬ 
signed  to  leaders  with  long  experience.  There  problems  that 
are  more  perplexing  and  the  correlation  of  whole  systems 
must  frequently  be  grappled  by  comparative  newcomers.  No 
one  less  than  the  educational  missionary  can  afford  to  waste 
time  through  ignorance,  no  one  can  less  afford  to  be  inefficient, 
no  one  can  less  afford  to  be  without  all  the  real  resources  that 
educational  science  has  to  offer.  The  obvious  dangers  have 
already  been  mentioned  of  specialization  in  too  narrow  a  de¬ 
partment  of  education  and  of  becoming  too  professional  in 
spirit,  but  the  opposite  danger  is  very  great,  of  failing  to 
specialize  sufficiently  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  present 
situation. 

Prof.  E.  P.  Cubberley,  in  his  authoritative  book  on  Public 
School  Administration  (pp.  133  ff.),  outlines  the  following- 
training  as  desirable  for  a  superintendent  of  schools  in  this 
country.  A  broad  college  course  as  the  basis,  with  electives 
in  educational  theory,  followed  by  a  year  of  postgraduate 
work  in  the  more  advanced  problems  of  education ;  then  five 
or  six  years  as  a  teacher  and  a  principal  of  schools,  during 
which  time  the  candidate  should  fully  fit  himself  for  his  pro¬ 
fession  by  varied  observation,  careful  reading  and  study,  and 
by  contact  with  all  available  broadening  influences.  At  the 
end  of  this  time  some  may  find  it  practicable  to  complete  a 
Ph.D.  in  education. 

Few  missionaries  may  have  opportunities  for  training  as 
thorough  as  this,  but  the  arrangement  of  work  is  suggestive. 
First,  some  general  introduction  to  the  study  of  education 
is  recommended,  together  with  enough  theory  to  gain  insight 
into  the  practical  problems.  Prof.  Cubberley  probably  would 
not  object  to  inserting  a  year  of  practical  experience  before 
the  earlier  post-graduate  year.  In  any  event,  he  calls  for 
prolonged  practical  work,  accompanied  by  study  before  the 


46 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


Ph.D.  thesis.  In  attempting  to  scale  down  this  preparation 
we  might  suggest,  first,  enough  of  theory  to  furnish  general 
ideas  and  ideals  for  practice.  Without  this,  teaching  may  be 
unnecessarily  crude.  This  theory  might  be  represented  by 
good  college  courses  in  education,  summer  school  work,  a 
year  at  a  teachers'  college,  or  even  by  hard  reading.  Any 
opportunities  for  observation,  practice  teaching,  or  discus¬ 
sion  of  principles  that  may  be  offered  should  be  welcomed. 
Next  should  come  a  period  of  practical  experience,  which 
should  be  chosen  for  its  educative  value.  Teaching  English 
or  modern  history  under  a  progressive  principal  in  a  medium¬ 
sized  high  school,  with  well-developed  extra-curriculum  ac¬ 
tivities,  would  be  a  desirable  type  of  work;  teaching  Latin  in 
a  college  preparatory  school,  with  strict  rules,  would  be  in 
general  an  undesirable  type.  The  final  year  of  theory  after 
this  will  be  appreciated  much  more  than  before  practice. 
The  amount  of  study  and  teaching  will  vary  in  different 
cases,  and  circumstances  may  render  it  necessary  to  take 
all  the  practice  first  or  last.  But  where  choice  is  possible, 
the  arrangement  of  at  least  a  brief  study  of  principles  first, 
not  less  than  a  year  of  practice  next,  and  a  full  year  of 
theory  last,  is  recommended,  with  observation,  reading,  and 
discussion  at  all  stages. 

Where  more  advanced  work  is  practicable,  it  is  suggested 
that  Ph.D.  degrees  be  taken  before  sailing,  in  any  subjects 
to  be  taught  on  the  field,  but  that  they  may  sometimes  best 
be  deferred  until  the  first  furlough.  Others  will  do  best  to 
learn  the  technique  of  some  sort  of  practical  research  work 
in  this  country  and  after  acquiring  the  language,  to  gather 
material  for  a  thesis  on  some  subject  that  needs  investigation 
by  exact  modern  methods.  Whether  a  doctor's  degree  is 
necessary  at  all  is  another  question,  but  if  it  is  taken  it  will 
surely  be  most  useful  in  connection  with  some  missionary 
educational  problem  which  the  foreign  missionary  has  neither 
time  nor  special  training  to  pursue.  Material  on  such  sub- 


47 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


jects  can  be  collected  only  with  great  difficulty  from  the  home 
base  and  hardly  with  effectiveness  on  the  field,  unless  there 
has  been  special  training  in  research  methods.  On  the  first 
furlough,  which  may  then  need  extension,  the  thesis  may  be 
put  into  shape. 

In  particular,  a  word  should  be  said  to  the  college  student 
and  graduate.  The  tendency  in  many  of  our  colleges  and 
universities  has  been  to  consider  almost  exclusively  the 
claims  of  subject-matter  rather  than  those  of  methods  of  in¬ 
struction — the  what  of  education  rather  than  the  how.  Pro¬ 
fessors  are  appointed  on  account  of  their  learning  and  emi¬ 
nence  in  research  work,  with  little  regard  to  their  ability  as 
teachers.  Normal  schools  and  teacher  training  colleges  are 
looked  down  upon  as  narrow  in  their  aims  and  culture,  and 
the  whole  science  of  education  falls  under  the  same  condem¬ 
nation.  The  average  college  professor  or  student  is  preju¬ 
diced  simply  because  he  imagines  that  education  is  nothing- 
more  than  pedagogy,  which  he  considers  to  be  a  set  of  arti¬ 
ficial  teaching  devices.  He  needs  to  realize  that  because 
education  has  come  to  be  recognized  by  nations  as  the  most 
important  agency  of  social  evolution,  the  science  of  educa¬ 
tion  has  become  one  of  the  broadest,  most  vital,  and  most 
cultural  subjects  that  a  man  can  study. 

VII.  Important  Courses  in  Education 

Here  again  some  warnings  are  necessary.  The  principal 
thing  is  not  how  many  courses  a  candidate  has  taken,  nor 
how  long  he  has  studied,  but  what  he  has  to  show  for  it. 
There  is  no  assurance  that  a  candidate  who  announces  that 
he  has  “had”  educational  psychology,  for  instance,  has  really 
gotten  anything  that  will  be  of  much  use  to  him  on  the  field. 
Educational  courses,  like  those  in  all  other  subjects,  some¬ 
times  fail  to  secure  to  the  student  all  that  their  titles  imply. 
They  are  usually  taught  with  American  conditions  in  view, 
by  those  who  have  no  knowledge  of  missionary  problems. 


48 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 

They  often  contain  more  or  less  dead  wood  and  fail  to  carry 
the  student  to  the  point  of  mastery  of  the  subject.  Of  them¬ 
selves  they  are  not  achievements,  but  only  helps  and  stimu¬ 
lants  to  further  learning. 

1.  The  Most  Useful  Courses. 

(a)  Introduction  to  Education. — The  most  useful  intro¬ 
ductory  course  for  beginners  is  one  which  sets  forth  in  a 
concrete  way  the  practical  problems  of  the  teacher  within 
and  outside  the  classroom,  with  just  enough  of  background 
to  furnish  some  standards  of  higher  values.  It  should  be 
organized  psychologically  from  the  standpoint  of  the  learner 
rather  than  logically  from  the  standpoint  of  the  educational 
theorist,  and  should  be  illustrated  by  observation,  teaching, 
and  administrative  methods. 

(  b  )  The  Principles  of  T e aching  in  T heir  Practical  A  p pli¬ 
cation. — Next  in  order  of  concreteness  comes  the  teaching  of 
the  particular  subject  more  in  detail.  This  is  desirable  be¬ 
fore  undertaking  practice,  in  order  to  enlarge  ideas  of  meth¬ 
od.  Later,  more  extended  work  along  this  line  may  be  ad¬ 
visable,  first,  because  missionaries  may  have  to  teach  several 
branches  in  case  of  an  emergency  and,  second,  in  order  that 
they  may  be  qualified  to  train  native  teachers.  This  last  is 
very  important.  Missionaries  should  be  able  to  analyze  the 
principles  of  teaching  various  subjects,  to  illustrate  effective 
methods,  and  to  supervise.  They  should  take  the  lead  in 
conducting  teachers’  institutes,  and  be  able  to  assist  in  work¬ 
ing  out  problems  of  teaching  new  subjects,  such  as  the  Chi¬ 
nese  language.  Those  qualified  to  teach  in  normal  schools 
are  especially  needed.  Within  the  next  few  years  the  num¬ 
ber  of  native  Christian  teachers  must  be  greatly  multiplied, 
and  this  may  be  done  only  by  those  who  have,  added  to  special 
gifts,  the  best  training  available. 

(c)  School  Administration. — This  is  more  important  for 
most  missionaries  than  preparation  for  classroom  work.  It 
involves,  not  only  such  matters  as  bookkeeping  and  finance, 

49 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


school  building  and  sanitation,  statistics  and  reports,  but  all 
that  relates  to  the  social  life  of  the  school — moral  training, 
and  making  the  school  a  social  center  and  a  service  to  the 
community.  Many  recent  developments  of  the  American 
public  school  in  its  care  for  social  welfare  are  very  suggestive 
for  the  mission  field.  There  is  need  also  for  a  few  mission¬ 
aries  with  training  to  deal  with  the  larger  problems  of  ad¬ 
ministration,  the  correlation  of  the  educational  agencies  in  a 
whole  region,  and  the  promotion  of  efficiency  of  an  entire 
school  system.  In  order  to  make  the  most  of  very  slender 
resources,  there  should  be  a  more  general  study  of  the  educa¬ 
tional  surveys  that  have  been  made  in  this  and  other  coun¬ 
tries,  and  there  should  be  a  few  missionaries  especially  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  various  types  of  tests  and  measures  that 
have  been  devised  in  recent  years  and  the  statistical  methods 
needed  for  their  effective  study.  Such  leadership  might  ex¬ 
hibit  needs  wholly  unsuspected,  and  prepare  the  way  for  a 
far  more  intelligent  distribution  of  missionary  educational 
effort. 

(d)  The  Philosophy  of  Education— A  course  is  needed 
to  present  education  in  the  large,  its  scope,  aims,  broad  prob¬ 
lems,  and  relationships  to  the  development  both  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual  and  the  race.  Such  material  is  sometimes  given  under 
the  title  of  principles  of  education.  There  is  danger  lest  we 
consider  education  to  be  only  a  study  of  well-established 
methods  for  conducting  existing  institutions,  and  thus  fail 
to  see  it  in  perspective. 

(e)  Educational  Sociology. — This  study  of  the  relation 
of  the  school  to  society  involves  the  adjustment  of  the  school 
to  social  needs,  and  of  the  aims,  curricula,  and  methods  of 
each  grade  and  type  of  school  to  its  particular  surroundings. 
In  view  of  the  place  of  the  school  in  preparation  for  most 
efficient  Christian  participation  in  the  various  social  institu¬ 
tions,  this  subject  is  absolutely  fundamental.  It  is  exceed¬ 
ingly  important  that  the  missionary  should  not  copy  blindly 

50 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


the  schools  of  the  West,  but  should  understand  how  they 
ought  to  be  modified  to  meet  the  needs  of  different  fields. 
One  of  the  most  difficult  and  interesting  problems  of  educa¬ 
tional  missionary  work  is  to  construct  the  most  useful 
curricula  for  various  situations.  For  instance,  the  China 
National  Conference,  quoted  above  on  page  5,  says  of  educa¬ 
tional  work  for  women,  “We  must  increase  it  in  quality  and 
fit  our  graduates  from  colleges  and  training  schools  to  in¬ 
vestigate  social  and  industrial  problems,  to  study  religious 
questions,  and  in  every  way  to  be  leaders  of  Chinese  women 
in  the  regeneration  of  China. ” 

(f  )  Educational  Psychology.— This  study  of  the  learning 
process  involves  the  working  of  the  human  mind  as  affected 
by  inheritance  and  environment,  and  its  laws  of  organization 
and  growth.  From  such  a  study  may  be  expected  a  better 
appreciation  of  how  the  pupil  acquires  his  habitual  modes  of 
thought,  of  how  he  adds  to  his  store  of  knowledge,  and  of 
the  means  necessary  to  the  development  of  character.  Those 
who  expect  to  deal  with  children  will  specialize  in  child 
study. 

(g)  Comparative  Education. — Many  leading  educators 
agree  that  the  traditional  courses  in  the  history  of  education 
have  been  greatly  overdone.  They  were  presented  too  early 
and  often  contained  little  more  than  a  background  of  names, 
dates,-  and  principal  facts.  The  history  of  education  is  a 
valuable  study  when  presented  to  mature  students  in  a  ma¬ 
ture  way,  bringing  out  clearly  the  forces  operating  in  edu¬ 
cational  evolution,  and  especially  contrasting  developments 
in  different  countries  and  in  different  stages  of  growth.  This 
will  help  students  to  realize  how  dependent  some  forms  of 
educational  organization  are  on  mere  historical  accidents, 
and  in  particular  how  little  we  are  justified  in  setting  up  the 
present  system  of  American  education  as  a  norm  for  other 
countries.  The  biographies  of  great  Christian  and  mission¬ 
ary  educators  will  be  found  helpful. 


51 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


(h)  Physical  and  Social  Education . — Much  has  been 
done  in  the  way  of  organized  play,  games,  scouting,  and 
directed  social  activities.  While  these  should  not  be  intro¬ 
duced  without  knowledge  of  local  conditions,  they  represent 
a  great  need  in  the  training  of  Oriental  youth. 

(i)  Kindergarten  Methods. — The  China  National  Con¬ 
ference  declared  “There  is  an  unlimited  field  for  the  Chris¬ 
tian  kindergarten.”  For  this  and  for  the  development  of  a 
scientific  primary  curriculum  there  is  need  of  sound  leader¬ 
ship. 

(j)  Treatment  of  Defectives. — This  class  is  generally 
neglected  in  the  non-Christian  world.  Christian  missions 
should  set  an  example  in  caring  for  them. 

Not  all  these  subjects  may  be  studied  by  all  educational 
missionaries,  but  the  example  of  the  medical  missionary 
would  suggest  that  the  training  must  be  broad  and  thorough, 
if  an  adequate  type  of  Christian  education  is  to  be  set  up  on 
the  field.  It  is  more  important  to  have  missionaries  who  see 
education  as  a  whole,  who  can  locate  the  weak  points  in  our 
systems  and  strengthen  them,  than  those  who  are  expert  in 
only  a  single  department. 

2.  The  Place  and  Method  of  Study. 

The  best  places  for  this  training  are  teachers’  colleges, 
pedagogical  departments  of  strong  universities,  and  first- 
class  normal  schools.  Some  institutions  which  advertise  all 
or  most  of  these  subjects  may  present  them  in  an  inadequate 
way.  In  general,  it  is  better  to  inquire  about  courses  and  to 
elect  only  those  which  have  competent  instructors  than  to 
depend  upon  the  description  of  catalogs.  Some  courses  can 
be  taken  more  economically  by  individual  reading. 

Inspection  of  good  teaching  in  various  grades  and  types 
of  schools  is  also  very  suggestive.  Some  schools  should  be 
visited  which  share  the  difficulties  of  the  foreign  field  as  to 
ungraded  classes,  foreign  born  children,  poor  home  life,  etc. 

52 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


Hampton  Institute  is  well  worth  a  visit  by  those  who  expect 
to  face  the  practical  problems  of  the  instruction  of  an  un¬ 
developed  people.  There  should  be  conversation  with  those 
who  have  had  experience  along  any  of  the  lines  recommended 
for  study,  and  reading  not  required  by  the  course.  Books  on 
educational  missionaries  and  their  varied  service  should  be 
read.  For  suggestions  refer  to  the  bibliography,  pp.  57,  58. 
The  eager  student  will  also  note  in  the  current  missionary 
magazines  references  to  the  eminent  educators  of  today. 

Most  educational  missionaries  recommend  that  at  least  a 
year  should  be  spent  in  the  study  of  educational  theory. 
This  should  be  a  minimum.  In  medicine  the  Boards  gener¬ 
ally  recommend  a  four  years’  course,  and  hospital  practice 
in  addition.  A  number  of  educational  missionaries  should 
spend  as  much  time  in  their  preparation — one  year’s  study 
of  theology  and  three  of  education,  together  with  actual  ex¬ 
perience  in  teaching.  Such  persons,  given  the  right  spirit 
and  ability,  would  be  equipped  to  meet  scientifically  the  more 
difficult  educational  problems  on  the  field. 

Missionaries  going  to  the  Far  East  would  be  greatly  prof¬ 
ited  by  a  visit  to  the  Philippines  on  their  way  out,  to  study 
the  work  of  the  United  States  government  in  education. 

The  candidate  should  not  be  discouraged  by  all  these  sug¬ 
gestions.  While  they  mention  much  more  than  is  usually 
expected  of  educational  missionaries,  they  represent  an  ideal 
which  is  actually  necessary  and  which  for  some  is  truly 
practicable.  Few  educational  missionaries  in  the  past  have 
had  such  training  and  yet  many  of  them  have  been  highly 
successful.  The  best  of  them  would  probably  admit  that 
with  better  preparation  they  would  have  achieved  more,  or 
at  least  have  come  earlier  into  their  full  strength. 

3.  Educational  Training  on  the  Field. 

The  training  of  the  educational  missionary  is  by  no  means 
complete  when  he  sails  for  the  field.  Three  very  important 


53 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


lines  of  study  remain  to  be  taken  up  later.  The  first  is  the 
study  of  the  language,  which  is  being  increasingly  done  in 
union  language  schools.  Even  if  the  missionary  instructs  in 
English  he  should  by  no  means  omit  to  study  the  vernacular. 
The  second  is  the  study  of  the  whole  work  of  the  mission, 
and  the  third,  which  can  be  taken  at  the  same  time,  is  the 
study  of  the  conditions  from  which  the  students  come  and 
to  which  they  go.  Many  correspondents  recommend  that 
all  educational  missionaries  should  serve  a  term  of  evangel¬ 
istic  work  on  the  field  before  beginning  to  teach.  From  the 
educational  standpoint  the  advice  is  most  sound.  It  would 
seem  absurd  to  attempt  to  teach  without  knowing  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  life  of  the  students  and  of  the  whole  enter¬ 
prise  to  which  the  school  is  expected  to  contribute.  In  any 
event,  missionary  teachers  should  take  every  opportunity  to 
visit  the  homes  of  their  pupils  and  to  make  the  most  of  vaca¬ 
tions  in  traveling  about  the  country. 

They  should  look  forward  to  furloughs  as  a  time  to  sup¬ 
plement  their  study  after  taking  the  necessary  rest.  They 
will  then  realize  far  better  what  they  need  most  and  will 
appreciate  what  they  study  as  would  have  been  impossible 
before.  Some  correspondents  would  even  recommend  post¬ 
poning  part  of  the  preparation  until  the  first  furlough,  on  the 
ground  that  it  can  then  be  made  so  much  more  intelligently. 
Most  of  these  suggest  a  short  first  term  on  the  field  in  order 
to  get  a  grip  on  the  language  and  an  acquaintance  with  the 
needs  of  the  work.  But  the  great  majority  of  missionaries 
advise  that  nothing  in  the  way  of  preparation  be  deliberately 
postponed,  since  one  can  never  know  too  much ;  but  that  the 
furlough  be  still  used  to  supplement  needs  that  could  not  be 
foreseen. 

Present  arrangements  for  furloughs  by  mission  Boards 
often  present  difficulties  to  the  educational  missionary  who 
wishes  to  study.  The  time  is  sometimes  too  short  for  the 
training  that  is  really  needed,  and  the  furlough  sometimes 

54 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


falls  at  a  season  which  permits  only  a  fragmentary  course. 
A  few  Boards  make  small  grants  to  assist  missionaries  on 
furlough  in  meeting  the  expenses  of  study,  but  these  are  often 
quite  inadequate,  especially  when  there  are  no  educational 
facilities  near  at  hand.  Those  who  most  sorely  need  pro¬ 
fessional  training  are  often  urged  by  the  Boards  to  spend 
time  instead  in  financial  campaigns  or  on  speaking  tours.  The 
needs  of  health  recuperation  may  also  interfere  with  study. 
With  all  these  things  in  view,  the  deliberate  postponement  of 
study  until  the  first  furlough  means  to  take  a  great  risk.  In 
any  event,  until  Boards  realize  more  fully  the  importance  of 
supplementary  educational  training  during  furlough,  mis¬ 
sionaries  should  plan  in  advance  with  great  care,  so  as  to 
make  the  most  of  their  stay  in  the  homeland.  The  educa¬ 
tional  missionary  must  always  be  a  student  and  should  never 
cease  to  grow,  both  in  knowledge  and  in  character. 


55 


A  Brief  List  of  Books  of  Unusual  Value  for  the 

Educational  Missionary 


A.  Books  of  General  Educational  Importance 

1.  Edinburgh  World  Missionary  Conference,  Report  of  Commission  III. 

Education  in  Relation  to  the  Christianization  of  National  Life.  Pp.  xx, 
471.  New  York,  Revell,  1910. 

This  is  a  very  thorough  discussion  of  the  needs  of  educational  work  in  general  and 
in  the  various  fields  in  particular.  It  should  be  carefully  studied  by  every  candidate 
for  educational  work. 

2.  — — .  Report  of  Commission  V.  The  Training  of  Teachers.  Pp.  x,  341. 

New  York,  Revell,  1910. 

This  report  treats  of  the  training  of  missionaries  and  has  special  sections  on  the  needs 
of  educational  missionaries. 

3.  _ — Report  of  Commission  II.  The  Church  in  the  Mission  Field.  Pp. 

xx,  380.  New  York,  Revell,  1910. 

An  important  discussion  of  the  conditions  under  which  the  missionary  must  do  his  work. 

4.  The  Continuation  Committee  Conferences  in  Asia,  1912-1913.  The  Findings, 

arranged  by  topics,  with  general  and  chapter  introductions  by  H.  P. 
Beach.  Pp.  430.  New  York,  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign 
Missions,  1913. 

These  conferences  made  many  important  recommendations  on  the  subject  of  educational 
work  and  the  training  of  missionaries  which  are  worthy  of  study  in  detail. 

5.  Speer,  R.  E.  Christianity  and  the  Nations.  Pp.  399.  New  York,  Revell, 

1910.  (Duff  Lectures  for  1910.) 

A  careful  discussion  of  many  lines  of  missionary  policy,  with  many  quotations. 

6.  Lucas,  B.  The  Empire  of  Christ,  being  a  Study  of  the  Missionary  Enter¬ 

prise  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Religious  Thought.  Pp.  vii,  151.  London, 
Macmillan,  1909. 

An  argument  for  the  regeneration  of  society  as  opposed  to  the  winning  of  individuals. 
Brilliant  and  suggestive. 

7.  Barton,  James  L.  Educational  Missions.  Pp.  271.  New  York,  Student 

Volunteer  Movement,  1913. 

A  general  survey  of  the  achievements  and  problems  of  missionary  education  on  the 
foreign  field. 


B.  Books  Which  Set  Forth  the  Educational  Problems  of 

Different  Mission  Areas 

1.  The  China  Mission  Year  Book.  Shanghai,  Christian  Literature  Society 

for  China  (Yearly).  New  York,  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel, 
25  Madison  Avenue. 

An  annual  publication  describing  the  exact  status  of  the  Christian  missionary  move¬ 
ment  for  the  year  preceding  publication.  It  often  contains  valuable  articles  relating  to 
Christian  education. 

2.  Kuo,  P.  W.  The  Chinese  System  of  Public  Education.  Pp.  209.  Teachers 

College,  Columbia  University,  1915. 

A  doctor’s  thesis  describing  the  Chinese  Government  system  of  education  from  earliest 
times,  with  its  modern  reorganization  under  the  Republic. 

56 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


3.  Burton,  M.  E.  The  Education  of  Women  in  China.  Pp.  268.  New  York, 

Revell,  1911. 

An  excellent  summary  of  the  general  and  missionary  education  of  women  in  China  by 
a  careful  observer. 

4.  Lewis,  Ida  B.  The  Education  of  Girls  in  China.  Pp.  92.  Teachers 

College,  Columbia  University,  1919. 

A  doctor’s  thesis,  presenting  the  results  of  an  investigation  of  mission  schools  for  girls 
in  China. 

5.  The  Educational  Review.  Shanghai,  China  Christian  Educational  Associa¬ 

tion.  (Quarterly.)  New  York,  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel, 
25  Madison  Avenue. 

Many  very  helpful  articles  for  one  who  is  to  undertake  educational  work  in  China  or 
the  Far  East. 

6.  Sharp,  H.  Progress  of  Education  in  India,  1912-1917,  two  vols.  Calcutta 

Supt.  of  Government  Printing,  India,  1919. 

The  seventh  and  latest  of  the  Quinquennial  Reports  which  are  indispensable  for  students 
of  education  in  India.  Annual  reports  are  now  being  issued  in  addition. 

7.  Sadler,  M.  E.  Calcutta  University  Commission  Report,  1917-1919,  13  vols. 

Calcutta  Supt.  of  Government  Printing,  1919. 

The  first  five  volumes  present  a  summary  of  the  evidence  and  the  recommendations  of 
the  Commission  on  University  Work  in  Bengal.  A  very  stimulating  discussion  for  the 
student  of  education  in  India. 

8.  Cowan,  M.  G.  The  Education  of  Women  in  India.  Pp.  256.  New  York, 

Revell,  1912. 

Impressions  of  a  thoughtful  visitor. 

9.  The  Christian  Movement  in  the  Japanese  Empire,  including  Korea  and 

Formosa.  Japan,  Conference  of  Federated  Missions  (Yearly).  New 
York,  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  25  Madison  Avenue. 

Like  the  China  Mission  Year  Book,  this  annual  publication  contains  from  time  to  time 
valuable  articles  on  Christian  education. 

10.  Burton,  M.  E.  The  Education  of  Women  in  Japan.  Pp.  268.  New  York, 

Revell,  1914. 

A  worthy  companion  to  Miss  Burton’s  book  on  the  education  of  women  in  China. 

11.  Kikuchi,  Baron  D.  Japanese  Education,  Lectures  delivered  in  the  Uni¬ 

versity  of  London.  Pp.  xvi,  397.  London,  Murray,  1909. 

Lectures  presenting  an  excellent  sketch  of  Japanese  education. 

12.  Loram,  C.  T.  The  Education  of  the  South  African  Native.  Pp.  340.  New 

York,  Longmans,  Green,  1917. 

The  work  of  an  able  government  inspector,  referring  largely  to  conditions  in  mission¬ 
ary  schools. 

13.  Latin  American  Congress,  1916.  Report  on  Education  in  Vol.  I  of  the 

Official  Report.  New  York,  Missionary  Education  Movement,  1917. 

A  clear  setting  forth  of  educational  conditions  in  Latin  America. 

14.  Fraser,  A.  G.,  Fleming,  D.  J.,  and  others.  Village  Education  in  India;  the 

Report  of  a  Commission  of  Inquiry.  London  and  New  York,  Oxford 
University  Press,  1920. 

A  report  of  very  great  value,  discussing  the  type  of  education  needed  for  village  schools. 
Very  suggestive  for  all  countries. 


C.  Biographies  of  Noteworthy  Educational  Missionaries 

1.  Smith,  G.  Life  of  Alexander  Duff.  Two  vols.  in  one.  Pp.  553.  New 
York,  Armstrong,  1879. 

A  bulky  book,  parts  of  which  may  well  be  skimmed,  but  of  great  importance  for  the 
history  of  educational  missions. 


57 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


2.  Hamlin,  C.  My  Life  and  Times.  5th  ed.  Pp.  538.  Boston,  Pilgrim 

Press,  1893. 

The  life  of  another  vigorous  and  original  personality  who  was  the  first  president  of 
Robert  College  in  Constantinople. 

3.  Washburn,  G.  Fifty  Years  in  Constantinople  and  Recollections  of  Robert 

College.  Pp.  xxxi,  317.  Boston,  Houghton,  1909. 

A  history  of  the  founding  and  development  of  Robert  College. 

4.  Griffis,  W.  E.  Verbeck  of  Japan;  a  Citizen  of  No  Country;  a  Life  Story 

of  Foundation  Work  inaugurated  by  Guido  Fridolin  Verbeck.  Pp.  376. 
New  York,  Revell,  1900. 

The  only  available  life  of  a  missionary  who  did  much  to  lay  the  foundation  of  Japanese 
education. 

5.  Hardy,  A.  S.  Life  and  Letters  of  Joseph  Hardy  Neesima.  Pp.  vi,  350. 

Boston,  Houghton,  1891. 

A  life  of  the  leading  Japanese  Christian  educator. 

6.  Wells,  J.  The  Life  of  James  Stewart.  2d.  ed.  Pp.  xi,  419.  London, 

Hodder,  1909. 

A  life  of  the  man  who  founded  the  leading  missionary  industrial  institution  of  Africa. 

7.  Talbot,  E.  A.  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong.  Pp.  vi,  301.  New  York, 

Doubleday,  1904. 

General  Armstrong  was  a  man  of  strong  personality,  and  has  contributed  very  greatly, 
through  Hampton  Institute,  to  the  progress  of  education. 

8.  Washington,  B.  T.  Up  From  Slavery,  an  Autobiography.  Pp.  xxiii,  330. 

New  York,  Missionary  Education  Movement,  1901. 

The  best  known  graduate  of  Hampton  has  also  made  a  real  contribution  to  our  national 
approach  to  the  problem  of  the  proper  education  of  backward  peoples. 

9.  Tyndale-Biscoe,  C.  E.  Character  Building  in  Kashmir.  Pamphlet.  Lon¬ 

don,  Church  Missionary  Society,  undated. 

A  very  striking  example  of  results  in  character  building  obtained  by  unconventional 
methods. 

D.  Books  on  the  Principles  and  Methods  of  Education 

The  first  sixteen  books  are  especially  recommended  for  beginners : 

1.  McMurry,  F.  M.  How  to  Study  and  Teaching  How  to  Study.  Pp.  viii,  324. 

Boston,  Houghton,  1909. 

Contains  many  practical  suggestions  for  the  teacher.  Especially  valuable  for  the  be¬ 
ginner. 

2.  Thorndike,  E.  L.  Education,  a  First  Book.  Pp.  ix,  292.  New  York, 

Macmillan,  1912. 

An  introduction  to  educational  principles,  with  emphasis  on  the  psychological  side. 

3.  Miller,  I.  E.  Education  for  the  Needs  of  Life.  Pp.  353.  New  York, 

Macmillan,  1917. 

An  excellent  summary  of  the  modern  functional  viewpoint  in  education. 

4.  Cubberley,  E.  P.  Changing  Conceptions  in  Education.  Pp.  ix,  70.  Boston, 

Houghton,  1909.  (Riverside  Educational  Monographs.) 

A  good  brief  sketch  of  the  development  of  some  of  the  modern  ideals  of  education. 

5.  Dewey,  J.  and  E.  Schools  of  Tomorrow.  Pp.  316.  New  York,  Dutton, 

1915. 

An  account  of  several  schools  in  America  which  are  illustrating  principles  of  initiative 
and  adaptation  to  special  needs. 

6.  Dewey,  E.  New  Schools  for  01<J.  Pp.  337.  New  York,  Dutton,  1919. 

The  story  of  a  wonderfully  interesting  transformation  of  a  run-down  rural  school. 

58 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


7.  Carney,  M.  Country  Life  and  the  Country  School;  a  Study  of  the  Agencies 

of  Rural  Progress  and  of  the  Social  Relationship  of  the  School  to  the 
Country  Community.  Pp.  xxii,  405.  Chicago,  Row,  1912. 

Shows  what  an  uplifting  influence  the  school  may  become  in  a  rural  community. 

8.  Kendall,  C.  N.,  and  Mirick,  G.  A.  How  to  Teach  the  Fundamental  Sub¬ 

jects.  Pp.  xii,  392.  Boston,  Houghton,  1915. 

Presents  practical  suggestions  on  teaching  the  principal  subjects  of  the  elementary  school. 

9.  Sears,  J.  B.  Classroom  Organization  and  Control.  Pp.  300.  Boston, 

Houghton,  1918. 

A  manual  for  the  teacher  beginning  work  in  an  elementary  school. 

10.  Bennett,  H.  E.  School  Efficiency.  Pp.  374.  New  York,  Ginn,  1917. 

This  book  discusses  the  administrative  problems  of  the  teacher  and  principal  in  a  school 
of  average  size. 

11.  Reeder,  R.  R.  How  Two  Hundred  Children  Live  and  Learn.  3d.  ed, 

Pp.  247.  Hastings-on-Hudson,  N.  Y.,  1914. 

Most  sane  and  wholesome  description  of  how  to  bring  up  children  in  an  institution. 
Excellent  for  boarding  school  work. 

12.  Lewis,  W.  D.  Democracy’s  High  School.  Pp.  130.  New  York,  Houghton, 

1914. 

One  of  the  best  brief  introductions  to  the  progressive  viewpoint  in  secondary  education. 

13.  James,  W.  Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology  and  to  Students  on  Some 

of  Life’s  Ideals.  Pp.  xi,  301.  New  York,  Holt,  1909. 

An  old  book,  but  one  much  quoted  for  its  suggestions  on  mental  development  and 
character  formation. 

14.  Davis,  J.  B.  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance.  Pp.  303.  New  York,  Ginn, 

1914. 

Suggestions  for  helping  young  people  choose  their  life  occupations  through  work  in 
English. 

15.  Weigle,  L.  A.,  Winchester,  R.  S.,  &  Athearn,  W.  S.  Pilgrim  Training 

Course,  First  Year.  Pp.  344.  Boston,  Pilgrim  Press,  1917. 

One  of  our  best  brief  training  courses  for  Sunday  School  teachers.  A  similar  advanced 
course  is  now  available. 

16.  Mumford,  E.  R.  The  Dawn  of  Character.  Pp.  210.  New  York,  Long¬ 

mans,  1910. 

An  attractively  written,  non-technical  book  on  social  study  and  training  for  the  parent 
and  teacher. 

17.  Dewey,  J.  The  School  and  Society.  Pp.  xv,  164.  2d.  ed.  Chicago,  Uni¬ 

versity  of  Chicago  Press,  1915. 

Though  very  unpretentious  in  form,  this  has  been  called  the  most  influential  book  on 
education  written  by  an  American.  It  lays  down  principles  for  the  elementary  curricu¬ 
lum. 

18.  - .  Democracy  and  Education;  an  Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of 

Education.  Pp.  xii,  434.  New  York,  Macmillan,  1916. 

The  most,  complete  statement  of  Dr.  Dewey's  philosophy  of  education,  which  has  had 
immense  influence  on  national  leaders.  Not  easy  reading,  but  worth  careful  study. 

19.  Bobbitt,  F.  The  Curriculum.  Pp.  295.  New  York,  Houghton,  1918. 

A  broad  discussion  of  the  principles  of  curriculum  construction. 

20.  Blow,  S.;  Hill,  P.,  &  Harrison,  E.  The  Kindergarten;  Reports  of  the 

Committee  of  Nineteen  on  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  the  Kindergarten. 
Pp.  xvi,  301.  New  York,  Houghton,  1913. 

The  discussion  of  kindergarten  principles  by  a  strict  Froebelian  and  a  representative  of 
the  progressive  school. 

21.  Norsworthy,  N.,  &  Whitley,  N.  T.  The  Psychology  of  Childhood.  Pp.  375. 

New  York,  Macmillan,  1918. 

A  textbook  for  normal  schools. 


59 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


22. 

23. 

24. 

25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 

29. 

30. 

31. 

32. 

33. 


34. 


35. 

36. 

37. 


Strayer,  G.  D.,  &  Norsworthy,  N.  How  to  Teach.  Pp.  397.  New  York, 
Macmillan,  1917. 

This  book  presents  the  psychology  most  needed  by  the  teacher. 

Inglis,  A.  Principles  of  Secondary  Education.  Pp.  741.  New  York, 
Houghton,  1918. 

On  the  whole  the  best  general  discussion  of  the  secondary  school. 

Snedden,  D.  Problems  of  Secondary  Education.  Pp.  333.  New  York, 
Houghton,  1917. 

Some  very  good  and  suggestive  comments  on  secondary  education. 

Russell,  W.  F.  Economy  in  Secondary  Education.  Pp.  viii,  74.  Boston, 
Houghton,  1916. 

The  comparison  of  American  with  European  secondary  education,  with  helpful  sugges¬ 
tions  for  the  improvement  of  the  former. 

Parker,  S.  C.  Methods  of  Teaching  in  High  Schools.  Pp.  xxv,  529.  New 
York,  Ginn,  revised  edit.,  1920. 

The  main  principles  of  teaching  are  applied  in  turn  to  different  subjects  of  the  secondary 
school. 

Hall-Quest,  A.  L.  Supervised  Study;  a  discussion  of  the  Study  Lesson 
in  High  School.  Pp.  xvii,  433.  New  York,  Macmillan,  1916. 

A  somewhat  fragmentary  compilation  of  suggestions  on  matters  of  fundamental  impor¬ 
tance  for  every  teacher. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.  Educational  Psychology;  a  Briefer  Course.  Pp.  442. 
New  York,  Macmillan,  1912. 

Presents  the  results  of  careful  psychological  studies  on  instinct,  learning,  fatigue,  and 
individual  differences  in  their  educational  applications. 

Dewey,  J.  How  We  Think.  Pp.  vi,  224.  Boston,  Heath,  1910. 

A  very  careful  analysis  of  thought  processes  with  application  to  education. 

Monroe,  W.  S.,  De  Voss,  J.  C.,  &  Kelly,  F.  J.  Educational  Tests  and 
Measurements.  Pp.  309.  New  York,  Houghton,  1917. 

Perhaps  the  best  general  introduction  to  this  subject,  with  brief  descriptions. 

Terman,  L.  M.  The  Intelligence  of  School  Children.  Pp.  317.  New  York, 
Houghton,  1919. 

A  discussion  of  results  obtained  by  the  Stanford  Revision  of  the  Binet  intelligence  tests. 

Cubberley,  E.  P.  Public  School  Administration.  Pp.  479.  New  York, 
Houghton,  1916. 

A  broad  discussion  of  principles  based  on  American  conditions. 

- ,  and  others.  The  Portland  Survey ;  a  textbook  on  City  School  Ad¬ 
ministration  based  on  a  Concrete  Study.  Pp.  xiv,  441.  Yonkers,  N.  Y., 
World  Book  Co.,  1915. 

A  report  on  one  of  the  numerous  surveys  of  school  systems  that  have  recently  been 
made  in  the  United  States. 

Ayres,  L.  P.,  and  others.  The  Cleveland  Educational  Survey.  25  small 
volumes.  New  York,  Survey  Committee  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation, 
1916. 

Some  of  these  volumes  are  of  very  great  interest  and  can  be  purchased  separately. 

Ward,  E.  F.  The  Social  Center.  Pp.  x,  359.  New  York,  Appleton,  1913. 

Suggests  many  lines  along  which  the  school  may  become  a  social  force  in  the  com¬ 
munity. 

Hoag,  E.  B.,  &  Terman,  L.  M.  Health  Work  in  the  Schools.  Pp.  xiii,  321. 
New  York,  Houghton,  1914. 

An  excellent  summary  of  what  schools  should  undertake  in  the  way  of  practical  hy¬ 
giene. 

Brewer,  J.  N.  The  Vocational  Guidance  Movement.  Pp.  333.  Macmillan, 
1918. 

A,  very  practical  discussion  of  the  possibilities  and  limitations  of  vocational  guidance. 

60 


PREPARATION  FOR  EDUCATIONAL  SERVICE 


38.  Monroe,  P.  A  Textbook  in  the  History  of  Education.  Pp.  xxiii,  772. 
New  York,  Macmillan,  1911. 

On  the  whole  the  most  satisfactory  history  of  education. 

39.  Graves,  F.  P.  A  Student’s  History  of  Education.  Pp.  xxv,  3-453.  New 

York,  Macmillan,  1915. 

Briefer  than  Monroe  and  easier  to  read.  More  suitable  for  beginners. 

40.  Cubberley,  E.  P.  Public  Education  in  the  United  States.  Pp.  517.  New 

York,  Houghton,  1919. 

The  most  satisfactory  history  of  education  in  the  United  States. 

41.  Coe,  G.  A.  A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education.  Pp.  361.  New  York, 

Scribner’s,  1917. 

The  most  consistent  attempt  yet  made  to  work  out  a  thoroughly  social  theory  of  religious 
education  for  both  home  and  church. 

42.  Sharp,  F.  C.  Education  for  Character.  Pp.  453.  Indianapolis,  Bobbs, 

Merrill,  1917. 

Discusses  both  indirect  and  direct  moral  instruction,  mainly  the  latter. 

43.  Snedden,  David.  Vocational  Education.  Pp.  587.  New  York,  Macmillan, 

1920. 

A  stimulating  discussion  of  the  larger  problems  involved  in  the  organization  of  voca¬ 
tional  education. 

44.  Stimson,  R.  W.  Vocational  Agricultural  Education.  Pp.  468.  New  York, 

Macmillan,  1919. 

Treats  especially  methods  of  project  work  on  home  farms. 

45.  Kilpatrick,  W.  H.  The  Project  Method.  New  York,  Teachers  College, 

Columbia  University.  30c. 

Reprint  of  an  artiale  in  the  Teacher’s  College  Record  giving  a  very  acute  appraisal 
of  the  project  method  in  education. 

46.  Bonser,  F.  G.  The  Elementary  School  Curriculum.  New  York,  Macmillan, 

1920. 

A  very  practical  volume,  discussing  the  aims  of  education,  the  best  methods  of  ele¬ 
mentary  instruction,  and  a  very  suggestive  curriculum  based  on  the  project  method. 

47.  Briggs,  T.  H.  The  Junior  High  School.  New  York,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 

1920. 

The  most  complete  discussion  available  of  this  important  subject. 

48.  Klapper,  Paul.  College  Teaching.  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  World  Book  Company, 

1920. 

A  new  type  of  book,  discussing  methods  of  teaching  college  subjects. 

49.  Cubberley,  E.  P.  The  History  of  Education.  New  York,  Houghton 

Mifflin  Co.,  1920. 

The  most  notable  history  of  education  that  has  been  written  since  Monroe’s  well- 
known  work  appeared. 

50.  Strong,  E.  K.  Introductory  Psychology  for  Teachers.  Baltimore,  Warwick 

&  York,  1920. 

A  rather  novel  type  of  laboratory  manual  for  educational  psychology. 


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